Lost Digidestined: The Snake Curse
by Chaos Knight Matthew
Summary: Following the fall of MaloMyotismon, peace has been given once more. New Digidestined with abilities of their own are beginning to show. Will the original team have the power to defend against the new evil that is starting to appear?
1. CH1: Strange Happeneings

Disclaimer: All TOEI Digimon and such belong to them. Any other characters, well, they belong to me, Chaos Knight Matthew. I did used a few ideas that were used from Trillermon's Infection Story, which motivated me to try this one out... I hope he doesn't mind... I'm not really too keen on the geography of the Digimon world or where the Digidestined live so if there is something that doesn't seem right with placement, let me know at . Thanks.

Anyhow... Enjoy the story.

In the Digiworld, peace was restored once again. The Battle against Malomyotismon is over, the Digidestined ending his reign. Digimon and humans start to repair their homes, and their lives. Yet in a remote, and unknown, part of the Digital World, a new power has begun to grow.

Lost Digidestined: The Snake Curse  
Chapter 1  
Strange Happenings

In a remote castle in the Digital World, two years later,

Daylight was approaching. It's morning glow casting it's soft light over the forest before settling along the stone walls of a castle. Inside the main tower, a black furred feline was walking up a set of winding stairs, her Digizodium helmet and tail ring glittering in the torch lit path. Although she is a Gatomon type, her form is more human than feline. Bats littered the ceiling, watching her pass. She was thinking of a story she was told recently, of a Dragon King who, like a certain Mega-Digimon tried to do, perished by the forces of light.

~He was weak in controlling his power...~ She thought to herself as she reflects on the story. ~... and too hungry for it. That was his weakness, and he paid for it with his life.~

An eerie smile came across her face for a moment at what she was told about it and what was about to take place.

~Now... Everything will be set right.~

She reached the top and entered the door that followed. Inside was a throne room. In the center chair sat a figure with short light brown hair, having on a black trench coat with what looked like various purple symbols on the shoulders leading down the sleeve, black pants and black shoes. Above him, a Bat-like Digimon glares at her then closes it's eyes, the horn on it's head glittering in the torchlight. As the door closed, the figure raised his head, his red eyes meeting the bright yellow eyes of the new arrival.

"Is everything prepared?" He asked in a calm voice.

"Yes, the trial is currently underway as we speak." An odd smile came across the shadowed face.

"Perfect... and without, 'him' here, it cannot be stopped. Ha ha ha." He chuckled. Reaching inside a pocket in his trench coat, he pulls out two black jars and tossed them to her. She caught them with open paws and looked at them, and smiled. The figure stood up and walked to a door to the left of where he was. He stopped halfway to address the cat-like Digimon.

"You may go now, DarkTailmon. I await the results of the trial." He then continued and left the room. When the door shut close, another figure walked from one of the columns and into the torchlight of the nearby torch. The black skin of the Digimon almost made it seem invisible as he stepped out. The red V mark on his head shown first before his eyes, which were also red. The black wings on his back almost give him the appearance of a dragon.

"Boy, you're gettin' special attention, aren't you." He said in a slightly high voice, his fangs showing a little as he did. She turned her head, her yellow eyes meeting his red-on-black ones.

"Well..." Her eyes narrows and glows a little. "Maybe there is something I could give you, VampVeemon " Turning her body around she slowly starts to walk toward the dragon Digimon.

"No, don't worry about it. Ya did the job, ya earned it. I'll be in my area if you need me." She passed him as she went to the main door.

"Hey." DarkTailmon called out. The black-winged figure turned around and she tossed one of her rewards to him. He caught it with to hands and looked at it. A small smile came across his face, his fangs protruding a little.

"You didn't have to, you know." He tossed it up once and then catching it. "But thanks anyhow." DarkTailmon didn't respond as she left the room, to go and get some sleep.

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"It certainly was a good day to come out here." A silver-haired boy said to a standing blue fox. The young boy had on a blue jean jacket with purple flames across the arms with matching pants and a plain-white shirt. The fox was a little shorter than him, having black fluffed fur on his chest, tip of the tail, hands and feet with a blue face, bright purple eyes scanned the forest area they were in. They were walking down a forest path, one that they have came upon many times before to do their training or rest.

"Ok DemiRenamon, let's train here." Lei said to his partner as he set down his backpack. He was pointing to a clearing in the forest that they have been traveling in the Digital World.

"Alright Lei, but let's aim up to do it, I don't want to damage any of the trees here." Lei's partner said to him, the shuriken-star design on his gloves over his hands glittered a little from the sun. Lei took off his purple-flamed blue jacket and matching backpack. Taking out a card he had in one of the jacket pockets, one with a fireball on it, he swipes it over his Digivice. It glowed a little then he puts the two up. They walk out a ways, into the center of the clearing, then stand next to each other, Lei brings his left hand back as DemiRenamon brings his right.

"Ready?" Lei asks. DemiRenamon nods as he begins to focus.

"Inferno...Flare...."

They say it together and fire begins to form within their hands.

"BLAS--"

"RRRAAAAAAGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!" A piercing scream from their right disrupted their concentration and they lost their fire.

"What the heck..." Lei started. They looked at their right, where the sound came from. Lei grabs his things, backpack and jacket, and puts them back on as he goes to the source, DemiRenamon behind him for a moment, before tripping over a rock and falling down. Passing through the trees, Lei come across another clearing. The Digidestined Digimon, Veemon, walked out of some nearby bushes.

"Hey Veemon." Veemon didn't even look at him as he walked passed him, down the path. DemiRenamon caught up with him as Lei watched Veemon go, curious to why he didn't respond to him.

"What happened?" DemiRenamon asked, a little out of breath.

"Found Veemon over here. Where were you?" Lei asks.

"Just got here, tripped over a rock." DemiRenamon pants. They stared down the trail for a moment longer.

"Well, let's get back to the training." DemiRenamon heads back to the other clearing. Lei didn't follow, still looking to where Veemon went.

"Yeah." Lei stood a moment longer and then followed DemiRenamon, still wondering what was so different about him.

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It took the rest of the afternoon and into the night to complete that day's training. The moon in the clear, star-filled sky casts its white glow over the forest. Halfway down the nearby forest path, a boy and his fox Digimon were resting after training all day.

"We did good today." Lei said to DemiRenamon as he was looking through his backpack.

"Yeah, that new attack did turn out well." DemiRenamon added. "FlamePalmon was suppose to meet me later on."

Lei moved his picture book aside as he continued his search. "Any improvements with her partner?"

DemiRenamon looked up to the sky. "No... Although I can tell she is very worried about her, as I am of FlamePalmon."

Lei looked up from his backpack, seeing his partner gazing at the sky. Lei smiled at DemiRenamon, and then went back to his search.

"Why were you wondering?" DemiRenamon asked.

"Haven't heard anything for a while, thought you might have heard something. Where is that card box!?" Lei said, furious that he can't find what he is looking for.

"How are you and Gatomon getting along? I heard you was in a fight with her..." Lei asks DemiRenamon, catching the fox Digimon off guard.

"How did you know that!?" DemiRenamon asks, surprised to hear this from his partner. Lei looked up from his backpack, seeing the surprised expression on his partner's face.

"I came across Kari yesterday and asked her how the two of you were doing. Don't worry, unless Gatomon told someone else, only me and Kari knows." Lei went back to his search.

"Whew... How mad is she at me?"

"Gatomon? I'd say `don't go near her for a week if you value your 'friend' type of mad. Where is that confounded card box!"

DemiRenamon shivered a little at the thought. "That bad huh... she never showed it when I told her--"

"Ah-ha!" Lei found what he was looking for, and puts the Fire Card back inside. He stopped for a second, in thought about the blue dragon Digimon.

"Lei?" DemiRenamon asked.

"Hmm?" Lei looked to DemiRenamon.

"Something else bothering you to?"

"Well... It's Veemon. I still don't think he was himself this afternoon. When do you ever see him not talking?"

"Well, he did seem a little strange... now that I think about it. I'd say let's go to Davis's place and ask him. "

"Might be the best thing at the moment." Lei held his right hand in front of him, grasping his purple Star Digivice, and press a button on the bottom.

~I hope she will be ok...~ DemiRenamon thought as he puts his hand on Lei's shoulder.

"Time Gate... Appear before me!" Two purple circles appeared before the Digivice. A silver aura covered both of them and they disappeared, the circles also disappearing, leaving the clearing as it was before.

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From an alley between two apartment buildings, two purple rings appeared three feet in the air. Two beings appeared from it. Lei puts the Star Digivice back into his backpack, the purple-flame design now gone because he was back in the real world. Leaving the alley and walking down a ways, the two soon found Davis's apartment building. Upon their approach there was movement near the main door. Lei and DemiRenamon moved to a darker area so they would not be seen. Lei parted his silver-grey hair away from his left eye so he could see better. They see Jun, Davis' sister, leave the apartment with Veemon. With it nighttime and away from a street lamp, the leaving two didn't see the approaching two.

"Jun and Veemon... walking together?" Lei said lowly to DemiRenamon, taking caution so that only he could hear him. "Something doesn't add up... If they separate, follow Veemon. Just keep an eye on him. I'll follow Jun." The blue fox nodded. They left to follow their targets. While they were following the two, DemiRenamon points something out.

"Since when have you ever seen these two ever get along?" DemiRenamon asks Lei. "I was about to ask you the same thing." Lei responds.

Jun and Veemon stopped at a crosswalk. Jun went left, while Veemon went straight ahead. Lei followed her, leaving his companion to deal with Veemon. Veemon turned to an apartment about a mile down. DemiRenamon recognized it as Kari and Tai's apartment. He felt reluctant to get even in seeing distance of the building, due to Gatomon living there, but if Veemon is different in some way...

~What is he doing here...~ Veemon turned around. DemiRenamon did his speed ability that makes him look like he vanishes and swiftly hid in a tree, hoping that he wouldn't be discovered. Veemon looked around a moment longer, then went to the door and let himself in. DemiRenamon peered from the leaves of the tree as Veemon entered. DemiRenamon saw, prior to Veemon entering, a slight white light around his hand before he touched the doorknob.

~That was...!~ DemiRenamon recognized what Veemon did. ~But how could he have learned that ability?~

Looking over the apartment building, he sees Gatomon curled up at the open window in Kari's room, asleep and a few stories above him.

"Gatomon! Gatomon, over here!" He called to her. She opened her eyes and brought her head up at the call. She sees DemiRenamon in the tree near her window and narrows her eyes.

"What? Oh, it's you..." Gatomon said to him, her voice edging with venom. DemiRenamon shimmies forward.

"You have to get out of there." DemiRenamon said to her, stopping at the very edge of the limb.

"And why should I listen to you after what you said?" She snapped.

"You're in trouble. Something seems wrong with Veemon and--"

"You think if you can't have me then no Digimon can!? Is that it!?"

"It's not like that!"

"You know what? Just leave me alone!" Gatomon snapped back at him and closed her window.

"Gat-- Damn." ~Ever since she found out about me and FlamePalmon she's been mad at me. Lei was right about her.~ He hastily tries to figure out what to do next before Veemon could get to her.

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Meanwhile, Lei was following Jun, after separating from DemiRenamon. He was using his Vanish Spell, one that would make him invisible to noticing eyes. Jun stopped at a house ten blocks and another turn down. She went to the door and knocked on it hard. Lei stopped to watch her, not worried about finding a hiding spot because of the Spell. After a few minuets, the door opened, reveling Matt Ishita, one of the original Digidestined, and he looked rather sleepy. He got agitated when he saw who it was and began to close the door when Jun stopped it with her fist and pushed herself inside, closing the door. Lei took this as a sign to get closer and find out what's going on. He goes past a yellow greenish bush to get to the front window, and peers in. He saw nothing at first, then he heard moaning near the door. Lei moved to the far left of the window to get a better look near the door. Taking a quick glance inside, Lei lowered himself back down, blushing slightly.

~Must be something going on between Sora, Matt and Jun... I think my mission is done here. I'll head back to the meeting spot and wait for DemiRenamon.~ Renewing his Vanish Spell, he gets out of the bush. He tripped on a branch. Lei fell with a crashing "Ooof!".

From inside, he heard Matt's voice... "Hey, why'd you stop?"

~Uh-oh!~ Lei turned around and sees Jun approaching the window.

"Sonic Speed!" Lei quietly said and quickly left the yard, and almost the neighborhood, dispelling his Vanish spell in the process as his Speed Spell took it's place before Jun could learn who was there. When he stopped, he looked around. This part of the area was different from what he knew.

":groan: I overshot the spot... " Lei said to himself. "... but it might be worth it." There were different houses, though all the lights were out on them, the people inside asleep. To his left was a construction site. The ground was wet from the kids playing that day with water balloons. Lei knew this because he walked over there and saw the rubber balloon shreds. Turning around, he goes back the way he came, almost tripping over something. He looked at it, and liked what he saw. Taking out a notebook he keeps in his jacket and scribbles something down. Bringing his Digivice up, he calls forth his teleportation portal, knowing where this could go.

"Time Gate open." The twin purple rings appeared. Lining the object with it, he pushes it through till it was completely through. Then he tore the paper from the notebook and threw it through. The Portal disappeared. Turning back, he leaves the construction site and heads back to the waiting spot.

End of Chapter 1


	2. CH2: Trouble With Friends

Disclaimer: All TOEI Digimon and such belong to them. Any other characters, well, they belong to me, Chaos Knight Matthew. I did used a few ideas that were used from Trillermon's Infection Story, which motivated me to try this one out... I hope he doesn't mind... I'm not really too keen on the geography of the Digimon world or where the Digidestined live so if there is something that doesn't seem right with placement, let me know at . Thanks.

Anyhow... Enjoy the story.

Chapter 2: Trouble with Friends...

Back at the Yagami household, Gatomon left Kari's room and went into the kitchen for something to calm herself down.

-How does he have the nerve to show himself after rejecting me like he did!?! He's dead meat the next time I see him.- As Gatomon got herself a tall, cool, glass of milk, her thoughts was interrupted by noticing the door was unlocked. This was unusual because Mrs. Yagami, Kari's Mom, was a security freak ever since their house was broken into and their TV stolen. She insisted that the house be completely locked when less than three people were home.

-That's strange...- Suddenly, her ears twitched. She turned around and nearly jumped out of her fur to see Veemon.

"::Meow!:: Don't scare me like that Veemon!" She gasped for breath, "How did you get in? I thought the Sealing Queen made entrance impossible."

"I guess she... forgot to lock up tonight." Veemon smiled. Gatomon looked at the smile. It didn't seem right. She immediately began to sense something wrong.

"Hey, Veemon... are you okay? You look... different somehow." She asked.

"I'm the same Veemon." He smiled, shrugging.

"Yeah... I guess I'm just a little over-observant..." She returned to her milk and sipped the glass slowly. Veemon slowly walked up behind her and wrapped his arms around her waist, breathing on her neck. She laughed slightly and pulled away.

"Hey, what do you think you're doing." She chuckled. She had an idea though, of what he had in mind. It would be perfect for getting back at DemiRenamon.

"I think you know..." Veemon grinned. Gatomon looked him over then smiled. She dropped the carton to the ground as Veemon pulled her to him embracing in a tight kiss. Gatomon's eyes opened as she felt Veemon's tongue lick hers. Something felt horribly wrong. She pushed away and looked at him.

"Uh... you know... I'm not sure if I do want to do this... maybe we should wait." She shrugged, pushing him away and stepping back. Veemon frowned at this.

"Stop stalling." He growled, stepping forward.

"Veemon, I mean it, I don't want to do anything to upset DemiRenamon." Gatomon insisted, trying to get away from him.

"Well that's too bad because I don't really care. We're going to do this whether you like it..." He grabbed her arms tightly, "... or not."

"Let me go!" Gatomon struggled, "Veemon, what's wrong with you?!" He pulled her to him but she broke free one of her paws. Swiping her sharp claws, she scratched him across the face. He stumbled back, holding his cheek and wincing slightly. He looked up at the panicking Gatomon and grinned. He moved his hand and she gasped. Instead of blood dripping from the scars on his face, a strange-looking white-green goo was oozing from it. The substance sucked back into his cheek and the wound healed immediately.

"De... DemiRenamon was right... something is wrong with you." Veemon cocked his head. "What are you?!" She said, a little more intimidated now, thoughts of revenge gone from her mind.

"Why, Gatomon, it's me. Don't you recognize your old friend, Veemon?" He gave that disturbing grin again and started walking towards Gatomon, who started walking backwards. Looking at Veemon's face, Gatomon saw that his eyes had a faint light to them.

"Y-- You're not Veemon. Stay away from me! What ever you are!!" She dashed past him and towards the door. Veemon turned and threw out his hand. As Gatomon got to the door, the locks on the door snapped and latched, a pale light outlining it. Gatomon stopped and turned slowly to Veemon. He had disappeared from view. She quickly looked from side to side extremely nervous, her white ears up, trying to listen for him. Suddenly, Gatomon was tackled from behind. She hit the carpet hard and looked back, Veemon was easily restraining her.

"Veemon! Stop this!" Try as she could, she couldn't break free.

"Demirenam-mmmhp!!!" Before she could finish her call, Veemon cupped his hand across her mouth silencing her.

"Don't even bother calling him." Veemon chuckled and removed his hand, switching it with his left hand that was holding her arms together above her. Veemon flipped Gatomon quickly to her back and slowly leaned forward. Gatomon tried to turn away, but Veemon grabbed her chin and turned her back to face him.

"It's futile to resist." Veemon forced a deep kiss on her as Gatomon continued to try and scream out.

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Outside the Yagami Household.

-I wish she wasn't so mad at me. Then maybe she wouldi've heard me out. I've got to get in there before...- DemiRenamon's thoughts were interrupted from screaming at the door, then was silenced.

"What the... Gatomon!" He ran to the door, to find it locked. -Perhaps I'm too late.- Placing his head next to the door, he can hear her muffled screaming, which was shortly silenced.

-Oh no...- DemiRenamon pointed a finger at the doorknob and said, "Unlock..." He felt Lei's magic power flow through him as the spell worked it's way through.

-Lei is not going to like that...- There was a cry from the other side. -Come on!! Hurry!!- In a minuet, the magic worked and the door opened ajar. There were no sounds now. He slid his head through to find Gatomon standing next to Veemon, staring at him.

"Well, well, well, Looks like I have another visitor tonight." Gatomon's voice took on monotone level. She narrowed her eyes at him, a small light flashing from them. DemiRenamon quickly closed the door and began to run away.

"Something's not right...!" The panicked fox said to himself as he started in a run back to the waiting area. The door flew open, Veemon's hand outstretched, and Gatomon launched from the door and landed on DemiRenamon, twisting him around so that he landed on his back, crashing him on to the ground, pinning his chest with one hand.

"I thought you would be happy to see me?" The white cat digimon purred The blue fox turned his head.

"Well, I'd be more happy if you got off me!" He stated as he tried to get free, using both hands to try and push her off, but it like trying to move a statue. -I'm glad Lei isn't around...- Gatomon's strength was surprisingly keeping him down. He tried to push her off, but she wouldn't budge. -...Gatomon's stronger?-

"Not just yet... I've got a present that I know you like, just for you." Gatomon said as she chuckled at DemiRenamon's attempts to move her. She lowered her head toward the fox's face. DemiRenamon saw something in Gatomon's usually blue eyes. They had a slight white tinge to them for some reason.

"Gatomon..." She stopped and met eye level with the blue fox. "I have something to tell you." A pleased but impatient look came over the cat's face.

"Awww.. can't it wait?" She said looking at him like a little kid, touching his chest slightly, tickling him.

"No... It can't.." He shivered for a second from her touch. Gatomon tilted her head, wondering what he had to say while her hand was feeling through the thick fur of his chest. Outstretching his arms he hastily shouts,

"RENAPPERE!!!" DemiRenamon's form glowed and he vanished from under Gatomon. She landed on the ground, now nothing to hold her up.

"Grrr!" She hit the ground with her hand. "How did he do that!?" Gatomon growled. Veemon walked up to her.

"Do not worry, Number Three. His time will come."

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Lei ran as fast as he could to try and get back. For some reason, on his way back, his power drained slightly and lowered his speed spell by a third. Turning the next corner, he saw DemiRenamon was already at Davis's house before Lei returned, arms crossed and head down. Lei stopped before he tripped over the blue fox's tail.

"Anything fun happened at your end?" DemiRenamon asks his friend, panting slightly.

"Nothing, but overshot... my stop.. I could tell that... you needed you use... a magic spell." DemiRenamon looked up at Lei and nods his head.

"I did." DemiRenamon told his friend all that had happened with him, leaving out that part about Gatomon. Lei did the same, after taking a moment of rest. After they were done, DemiRenamon spoke up.

"Let's visit Davis tomorrow, to see about Veemon." Lei looked at the dark windows.

"Doesn't look like he's home now."

"Could he be at Yolei's?" DemiRenamon asks. Lei thought for a moment.

"Maybe."

"We could spend the night there, seeing if these... incidents... are also appearing elsewhere. Then see if they know anything."

"Now there's an idea. Let's try it." Lei started walking, but DemiRenamon didn't follow.

"I need to check on FlamePalmon first." Lei turned around. "I am a little late for our meeting..."

"Hmm. So I guess I'll meet you at Yolei's in an hour and a half then?" DemiRenamon nodded. Lei brought his backpack forward and took out a sparkling card and his Digivice. He handed the card to his partner.

"Say 'Portal Lei' to return. I only have one of these so don't lose it. Time Gate Respond!!" Lei said, his Star Digivice and card glowed. Purple rings appeared in front of DemiRenamon. He touched the circles and vanished. Lei set off alone to Yolei's apartment store.

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Meanwhile...

An hour as passed...

Veemon looked out across the bright lights from the Tokyo skyscrapers. He traced his claws across the parapet and grinned slightly.

"A world full of fresh hosts, ready for the taking." He said to himself. "That fox fool, thinking he could try to stop me." He chuckled, "Still, these... Digidestined seem to be a good source of power... more so with the Digimon." Veemon said, looking at his talented hands. "After I acquire a nice amount of this energy, it shall be enough to revive my master." He clasped his hand into a fist, "Then the true ruler shall awaken. No one alive will be left without a distinct connection to us. " He snickered evilly. "That fox will have to be taken care of somehow, one way ..." Veemon's narrowed his eyes. "...or another."

"Number One?" A voice came from behind him and Veemon closed his eyes, "Number Two has acquired Number Four. A report from Number Twenty-Two said that Seventeen and Eightteen are also acquired "

"Excellent, Number Three, it seems everything is going as planned." He nodded, turning towards Gatomon, "Tell Number Four to acquire Eight with you. Once Number Eight is with us, join up with Eightteen to acquire Nine and Ten. I'm also putting Number Seven in charge with you." He pulled her close to him, kissing her deeply. Gatomon's eyes closed as she kissed back. "I'm looking forward to your success." Veemon said as he turned back to his work.

End of Chapter 2


	3. CH3: Prophacy Foretold

Disclaimer: All TOEI Digimon and such belong to them. Any other characters, well, they belong to me, Chaos Knight Matthew. I did used a few ideas that were used from Trillermon's Infection Story, which motivated me to try this one out... I hope he doesn't mind... I'm not really too keen on the geography of the Digimon world or where the Digidestined live so if there is something that doesn't seem right with placement, let me know at . Thanks.

Anyhow... Enjoy the story.

Chapter 3: Prophacy Foretold

Forty-Five minuets after DemiRenamon went to the Digital World...

Lei arrived at the Drug Store after a while. Finding a specific door outside the building, he waits for his partner. A flash of light appeared nearby and a tall blue digimon with a short red plant digimon appeared. DemiRenamon and FlamePalmon walked up to Lei, who was outside the door to the apartment section. DemiRenamon gives the Gate Card back to Lei.

"DemiRenamon, why is she here?" Lei whispered to him.

"She thinks it's a sleepover." DemiRenamon said the last part through clenched teeth. "May be best to leave it at that." Luckily for him, FlamePalmon wasn't really paying attention because she was looking around. Lei got the hint and hummed a 'Mmm-hm', gave a look to his fox partner as he and his friends went up the stairs to Yolei's apartment door. He knocked on it three times. Waiting, DemiRenamon heard something inside, a T.V.

"Sounds like that... 'Crocodile Hunter' you used to watch." DemiRenamon said.

Lei didn't respond at first. After knocking again, he said. "Hope he still has his arm."

They both laughed to themselves at their joke, FlamePalmon still looking around, her first time being anywhere than her home in the Digital World. DemiRenamon stood straight.

"Someone's coming." FlamePalmon moved to DemiRenamon's side, looking at the door. A second later, a male voice silently called from the door.

"Who's there?"

"A friend." Lei responded. After a little talking inside, the door was unlatched and opened. Davis, with his girlfriend, Yolei, were at the door. They were in their sleeping clothes when they greeted the three. Davis had on a white shirt with blue pants and his trademark signature goggles on his head. Yolei had on a light puple robe on.

"Hi Davis. Hi Yolei. Long time no see?" Lei said to them with a smile.

"You're Lei... right?" A sleepy Yolei asks.

"Yeah. Can we come in?"

"Uh... sure." Davis motions them to come in and closes the door behind them, recognizing DemiRenamon, but not FlamePalmon. He puts a finger over his mouth and pointing to a brown bird asleep on the couch, his feather headband's feather drooping over his face. Lei understood, although it wasn't needed. He already knew Hawkmon was a hard sleeper. The red digimon approached them.

"Who's this?" Davis asks Lei.

"My name's FlamePalmon." She said lowly, not to wake Hawkmon. Davis and Yolei said their hellos.

"DemiRenamon's new mate." Lei said. "So, how have you been?" They were a little surprised to see this kid, who they haven't seen in a few months, after an incident in the Digital World. They remembered DemiRenamon, who had been hanging out with Gatomon a few months ago. They heard also from Kari about the situation between the cat and fox digimon.

"... Fine." Davis replied. "Where have you been? We haven't seen you since that Floramon went crazy." FlamePalmon was looking around.

"I've been working a training program with DemiRenamon. He was telling me that he was wanting to get stronger, even stronger than Gatomon." DemiRenamon pushed Lei for that, a grin on Lei's face. Yolei and Davis chuckled with Lei. "Yolei?" Lei asks.

"Yes."

"You wouldn't mind us staying here for tonight would you?"

"No I don't mind..." Yolei said, giving a curious glance to Lei. "Head up go to the second room on the right upstairs and you can sleep there." DemiRenamon headed upstairs. Lei followed, but turned around and said, "Thanks." FlamePalmon followed after him. They quickly found the room. FlamePalmon looked around the room as well, fascinated by everything inside. Lei glanced around, but went to the single bed.

"So, who gets what?" Lei asks, seeing that there is only one bed in the room.

"I'll take the floor." DemiRenamon said. Lei tossed him one of the two pillows on the bed. Taking off his orange gloves, goes to the window, he lies down on his side putting the pillow over his head as he got comfortable.

FlamePalmon, seeing where DemiRenamon was, went over to him and lays against him, nuzzling against his black-furred chest.

"I love you, my Protector." She whispered. DemiRenamon smiled as he puts a blue arm around her as she goes to sleep. "Same for you, my Princess." Hearing a slight creak, DemiRenamon looks up to see Lei, looking down and grinning at the cute couple, his arms underneath him to hold him up.

"'Protector' huh?" DemiRenamon didn't say anything back, just smiled, rested back onto the pillow and lied there until sleep claimed him. Lei turned around to the pillow, rested his head on it. ~Maybe nothing will happen after all... ~

*********************************************************************************************

Izzy was up late as usual, doing his computer searches for some useful information when his e-mail sound chimed in.

"Must be one of those things again." He moved the mouse cursor over to a little overflowing mailbox and clicked on it, bringing up his e-mail window. His computer screen went blank.

"What the... " He tried to type something, but nothing came up. "Great, my whole system's crashed." A blinking dash appeared on the upper left of the screen. "What's this?" Before he touched the keyboard, words began to appear on the screen....

Friend's glow,  
Taken by the serpent,  
Friend's love,Scorned by it's venom,  
Spiral spikes,  
Following it's course,  
Time is it's strength,  
For it will soon come.

Songs of the innocent,  
Filled with Pain and Despair,  
Calling forth the true ruler,  
From the Ashes of Time,  
And bring forth Armageddon.

Heroes once lost,  
Having long since slept,  
Come forth one more,  
To bring the Final Judgment,  
And seal the darkness from within.

Izzy quickly wrote it down and strangely it disappeared after he wrote it. "Most intriguing..." He said to himself as his computer began to load back up. "I best look more into this."

*********************************************************************************************

Lei was still awake, holding his Star Digivice. Pushing the buttons on it, he made the little character move. He couldn't get to sleep, so he decided to bring up his mini-game that he had on his Digivice, a sprite where he had to jump over various obstacles.

-Why had Veemon not responded to you?- A question popped up, it's voice sounded feminine. He paused his game and thought for a moment.

-I don't know, maybe he had a lot on his mind, I mean, he did like Gatomon more than DemiRenamon did.-

The voice chuckled. -Yeah, enough to change her.-

Lei looked surprised . -How...-

-I heard DemiRenamon's story.-

-Oh.-

-You need to get to the bottom of this, Torcher's Seal is almost broken and...-

Lei gave a small sigh. -I know, I know.-

There was silence for a while as the char on Lei's game kept on dying. -:Sigh: I best better get some sleep.- Closing out the game, he brought up the clock on his Digivice, it was 1:04. -It's getting late.- Rolling over onto his side, he closes his eyes.

*********************************************************************************************

A few hours later, DemiRenamon woke with a start. He heard the sound of a cat's meow, which for some reason sounded more like a moan with his heightened hearing. -Gatomon's here?!- He got up off the floor and shook Lei. FlamePalmon was lying next to DemiRenamon and when he got up he had awaken her. She stood up and yawned.

"... no, it's not 9:00 yet. The birds are ok..."

"Lei!" DemiRenamon whispered to him.

"...DemiRenamon? W...What's going on?"

"We have a problem." DemiRenamon turned away to get his orange gloves and puts them on. Lei understood, quickly got awake, puts on his boots and slings his backpack across his back. He decided to sleep in his clothes that he had on already. They got to the door and slowly opened it. Lei looked out in the hallway, seeing nothing, he went back into the room.

"You sure? I didn't see anything." Lei said to his partner.

"I'm sure I heard something..." The blue fox replies. FlamePalmon stretched as she got more awake, not exactly sure what's going on. DemiRenamon looked out and saw Yolei going down the stairs. He went back in the room.

"Yolei's heading downstairs." Lei was thinking about any possible danger.

"Hmmm. Gatomon's voice, Hawkmon in the living room." FlamePalmon looked up to the two. "Yolei's in danger if Gatomon was down there and changed Hawkmon into one of those... things... like what you saw earlier. We should go and see..." There was a crash from the living room. They left quickly to the source. "...Answered my question, didn't it?"

Lei glanced at the blue fox who nodded, FlamePalmon looked down where they went.

"Where did they go..." She asked herself, rubbing her eyes as she follows. When the two got down there, they saw Hawkmon lying in where the coffee table in front of the couch used to be, now in peices. The bird Digimon shook his head. FlamePalmon bumped into DemiRenamon.

"What... FlamePalmon? Stay over here." DemiRenamon said to her, a trace of worry in his voice. -This is all I need...- DemiRenamon thought.

Lei went to Yolei. "What happened?" Yolei jumped in surprise and saw it was Lei, DemiRenamon and FlamePalmon behind him.

"I..I don't know... I was getting myself a glass of water when--" She gasped as she saw his multiple cuts from the wood bleed light green. It absorbs back into him and the wounds healed quickly. Lei noticed something when Hawkmon did this, like something else was covering his feathered body in the process for half a second.

"Yolei, get Davis and get out of here." Lei told her.

"But..."

"NOW!" Hawkmon saw the three and growled. Holding his Star Digivice, Lei activates the code for Digivolution.

"Here we go..." Lei murmurs to himself as energy ribbons envelops DemiRenamon.

"DemiRenamon digivolve to..." DemiRenamon grew to six feet tall, an Armored vest with a crystal on the chest appeared on his torso and a golden star appeared on his forehead. His orange gloves also grew with him, a pattern of a gold star inside a black circle appeared on the back of his gloves, as his transformation finished. "StarRenamon!"

Hawkmon noticed Yolei trying to escape up the stairs and lunged at her again, but Lei jumped in the way, pinning him down.

"Don't think so birdie." Lei said. Yolei was running upstairs to her room, passing StarRenamon and FlamePalmon. Meanwhile, Hawkmon managed to get one of his wings loose and smacked Lei on the head hard, knocking him out, making him roll into the table remains.

"Hawkmon! Cease this at once!" The armored fox called to his friend, his voice sounding older. StarRenamon had always respected Hawkmon and didn't want to hurt him. He was at the entrance to the hallway, buying Yolei some time when he was pushed forcefully away and toppled over the couch.

"StarRenamon!" FlamePalmon shouted and ran over to him. "Are you hurt anywhere?"

"I'm alright, I'm alright. Just a little dizzy. " StarRenamon told his frantic friend as he arose. Hawkmon looked at the fallen two, and the female plant, his eyes flashed white for just a second.

"I'll deal with you later pretty..." He grinned evilly and headed upstairs.

*********************************************************************************************

Yolei hastily shook awake Davis and sat him up.

"Hrrrm... Yolei? Someone else here?"

"No time to explain! We need to get out of here!!!!" She tugged him up as he put on his goggles.

"Wait, can I at least-"

"There's no time!!" She pulled out of the room and towards the hallway. Hawkmon met them half way, standing at the bedroom door.

"You're not going anywhere, Leraru!" He hissed in a raspy voice. Yolei was a bit confused for a moment on what he just said, but she knew she still had to escape. She swift-kicked him aside into another table, the vase on it smashed onto Hawkmon's head, a yellow flower sitting where his Headband Feather is, and bolted for the bedroom door. As she and Davis ran out the door and downstairs, she called back a hasty, "Sorry." They bolted out the front door, StarRenamon carrying Lei over his shoulder, FlamePalmon following after.

*********************************************************************************************

Meanwhile, back at Kari's Apartment...

"Gatomon!!! Where are you!" Kari shouts out to her partner. When Kari and Tai got back from their errand, Gatomon was nowhere to be found. The only real changes here was there was a milk carton laying on the floor, milk pooled around it.

"She was here when we left." Tai said to his sister as he picked up the carton. ''...Mabey she had to take care of something important." Tai begn cleaning up the messy milk so he didn't heard the faint sound of feathers rustling.

"I'm really worried about her Tai." Kari says to her brother as she takes her new camera film to her room. Kari wanted to get ot of the house, so she and Tai went to the mall to look around. Gatomon was still a bit steamed about DemiRenamon so she stayed behind to have some time for herself. Mrs. Kamiya was out of town at this time, so they had the place pretty much to themselves.

"You think she will be alright?" Kari calls out from her room. No responce. "Tai!" She calls out and still no responce. Kari turned to head back to the main room. "Tai, this isn't funn... Gatomon?" Her partner digimon stood in front of the door leading out, a sly grin on her feline face, like when a cat has caught her mouse.

*********************************************************************************************

Davis and Yolei were panting heavily as they hid behind a dumpster in an alley. They had gotten as far away from Yolei's parent's store as their legs would permit. StarRenamon sat Lei down against the brick wall and rested for a moment to catch his breath. He looked down at Lei. No one else noticed a small purple light coming from his chest. Davis was sitting on the ground as Yolei constantly looked around the corner. After convincing herself that Hawkmon really wasn't following them, she sighed and leaned against the alley wall.

"I don't know what's gotten into Hawkmon. He just attacked me for no reason. What do you think is wrong with him? We need to find out-"

"Y-Y-Yolei?" Davis shivered.

"What?" She looked at him.

"C-c-c-can we at l-least get me some p-p-pants?" He asked, "I I'm f-f-freezing my a-ass off...."

Yolei looked down and saw that she had rushed him out of the room before he had a chance to put on anything but his underwear and goggles. She felt the chill night air too and wrapped her arms around herself. The blue fox hardly felt it, but Lei shivered slightly, his jacket not offering much protection.

"I need to get him to a warm area to recover." StarRenamon said. "I could help with that." Generating a little heat from her body, FlamePalmon creates a fireball and holds it up, the heat spreading. Davis sighed at the relief that it was warm.

"Flames, that's not a good idea. The light of it will attract others." StarRenamon said. FlamePalmon sighed and puts out her fireball, the coldness returning.

"D-d-damn..." Davis muttered.

"We're pretty close to Izzy's apartment." She said, "Maybe he can help us figure out what's wrong with Hawkmon."

"Whatev-v-ver!" Davis shuddered, rubbing his arms. They quickly made their way to Izzy's apartment and knocked frantically on the door. They were fortunate that he had been up at the time. Izzy opened the door and looked at Yolei and Davis, then to StarRenamon and Lei, then to FlamePalmon. He looked again at the first two's lack of clothes and then behind them, an unconscious silver haired kid with a jean jacket and jeans atop a blue fox's shoulder.

"Um... what can I do for you?" He said. They rushed inside and he shut the door.

"P-p-p-PANTS!" Davis nearly screamed.

"Sure... middle drawer." He pointed to his room. Davis immediately ran inside.

"Uhh... would you mind telling me what you and Davis were doing outside in your unmentionables, and what happened to Lei?"

Yolei blushed slightly. "Hawkmon's gone berserk!" She said, "When I was getting a drink of water from the kitchen, he attacked me and... tried to... kiss me...." She shifted her eyes, not wanting to show the fear she was feeling.

"What?!" Izzy said, surprised.

"There was something wrong with him... I don't know what but... he was... different. If Lei didn't hold him back... " Grabbing a pillow from the couch, StarRenamon set the unconscious boy down onto the floor.

"Can I have a blanket?" StarRenamon asks Izzy.

"Sure. I'll be back in a moment." Izzy said, deep in thought. "This is very strange." Izzy said as he came back with a red blanket and gave it to StarRenamon to put over Lei. He looks to Yolei. "Where is Hawkmon now?"

"Back at my apartment for all I know." Just then, Davis emerged from Izzy's room, sliding on a relatively small shirt.

"Do you have any bigger shirts? This one kind of doesn't fit." He said, pulling down on the one he had on.

*********************************************************************************************

As Izzy listened again to Yolei's explanation of what happened, he bit his lip in thought. StarRenamon sat Lei on the sofa, thinking that may be better. He sat next to him with FlamePalmon on his lap, her vine-hand tracing the lines on his armor.

-It doesn't make sense.- Izzy thought to himself. -Hawkmon was acting normal this afternoon. What would make him so bent on hurting his Digidestined partner? Does this have anything to do with what happened earlier?- "I can't make any conclusions from you're giving me, I'm sorry..." He said, "There's too little information. I mean, there are thousands of theories that could be based on what you're giving me. Maybe Hawkmon's been taking something different in his diet. Maybe something's wrong with him and his mind is confused. He may even be jealous of you and Davis for all I know."

"Or maybe someone's gotten to him." StarRenamon spoke up and opened his eyes. He runs his paw over FlamePalmon's arm. She shivered slightly, a small smile on her red face.

"What do you mean?" Izzy asked.

"Earlier tonight, as DemiRenamon, I followed Veemon, and he did something to Gatomon and changed her somehow. I learned this by Gatomon assaulting me, and was trying to kiss me, but I got away before she could do it. I don't know how yet, but if Veemon could change Gatomon, then she could now probably do the same to Hawkmon, or any other Digimon for that matter." StarRenamon finished.

Yolei looked at the ground, still thinking of Hawkmon. "It was almost like... something was controlling him..."

"Lei was following Jun for the same reason I was, but according to him he didn't see much because she went to Matt's house." StarRenamon added.

"Wait... You're telling me that Jun is under the same thing as Veemon?!" Davis asks, a little worried.

"I believe so, since it happened to Gatomon." StarRenamon said.

"Well, until I can get more data on what we're dealing with, we're still left in the dark." Izzy sighed. A bright purple glow from Lei distracted Izzy for a moment.

"What's going on with him?" Izzy asks StarRenamon. The blue and black fox looked down at him, seeing his chest glowing slightly.

"His..."

"His what?" A confused Yolei asked, trying to focus on another subject at the moment.

"Lei can explain it better than I could, but his Digivice along with his crest can help him recover faster."

"Wait a minuet... Crest?" Izzy asked, as confused as the others. "I thought there were only eight crests?"

StarRenamon looked to Izzy. "No. There were more than the eight that you know. Time, Illusion, Destruction, Anger, I think... and Metal are the only ones that I know of. Lei's the one that has the Time Crest. The others I have no idea what happened to them."

Davis and Yolei looked to Izzy questionly. Izzy shrugged. "I never heard of this before..." Before Izzy could finish his statement, there was sudden and frantic knocking at the door. Izzy got up and answered it, only to have the door smack him in the face. Palmon rushed in, panting and covered in cuts.

"Palmon! What's going on, are you all right?" Yolei said as she and Davis stood up.

StarRenamon went to the window near the door, FlamePalmon moving aside, sitting on the sofa. She saw the green plant Digimon rush in. -She looks like me...-

"Damn, he followed her..." StarRenamon muttered. "Now he knows where we're at."

"CLOSE THE DOOR!" Palmon shouts. Izzy looked at her, confused then out the door.

"Izzy close it!" StarRenamon yelled out. "Hawkmon's flying fast!"

Hawkmon was flying towards them with great speed. Izzy eeped, slammed the door and locked it right before Hawkmon could enter through. There was a loud thud as the bird Digimon hit the wooden door. Izzy, Davis and Yolei got in front of the door, pushing against it with all their combined strength to keep the mad hawk out.

"Damn bird never knows when to quit." The blue fox muttered. Davis fell to the floor for a second from the current barrage on the creaking door.

"Davis!" Izzy and Yolei shouts to him as he quickly got back into place.

"Wasn't my fault! OUCH!" Davis said, the force of Hawkmon's blows reaching through the wood, pushing the door open ajar and the others back.

"Heave!" Davis calls out.

"HO!" The three push together, using the door to knock back Hawkmon. It worked for moment before the assault began again. FlamePalmon got up and went to the same window as her blue knight.

"StarRenamon, hold me up." The window wasn't low enough for her to see. He lifted her up onto his shoulder, looked outside and saw the brown bird hammering on the door. Afterwards, a short moment of silence as Hawkmon was catching his breath before more door pounding.

"DON'T LET HIM IN!!!!!" Palmon cried, backing away quickly into the hall closet, slamming the door behind her.

"That's Hawkmon?" FlamePalmon asks StarRenamon. "He's acting strange to be who you talked about..."

"That's for sure." StarRenamon replies.

Hawkmon was using all his strength to pound against the door. Right before he struck it again, Hawkmon suddenly stopped. He looked to the side as if hearing something, then quickly flew off. Izzy sighed in relief and sat on the ground, looking at the damage done to his front door.

"He's gone?" Yolei said.

"Yeah, he left." Davis said, as he and StarRenamon looked outside for any other 'friends'. Izzy slowly stood up, dusted himself off and went over to the closet, opening it. Palmon was huddled inside, shaking uncontrolably. FlamePalmon left StarRenamon for a moment to see if she could help Palmon.

"Palmon, he's gone it's all right now." Izzy said as he beckoned her to come out, "What happened?"

"Attacked... Mimi... I... barely escaped..." She whimpered, "... has her..."

"Who? Who has Mimi? Hawkmon?" Yolei asks the terrified plant-girl.

"Veemon has her?" Davis also asks, prepared for the worst.

"No.... her claws...white...pur...ple..." Palmon shivered in fear as she tried to remember a name, a name that she wishes she could forever forget. "...G...Gatomon, she... has her...."

End of Chapter 3...


	4. CH4: Poisoned Hearts

Disclaimer: All TOEI Digimon and such belong to them. Any other characters, well, they belong to me, Chaos Knight Matthew. I did used a few ideas that were used from Trillermon's Infection Story, which motivated me to try this one out... I hope he doesn't mind... I'm not really too keen on the geography of the Digimon world or where the Digidestined live so if there is something that doesn't seem right with placement, let me know at . Thanks.

Anyhow... Enjoy the story.

Chapter 4: Poisoned Hearts

Alone... All alone, save for his partner, who sleeps above him. He walks to a small sphere, stood up in a shrine near the center of the room on the right side wall and touches the orb carefully. The orb glows in various colors.

"It's working." Moving his hand away, the sphere's glow faded, removing what he wanted to see. "Soon, Lei... Soon I will extract my revenge on you for what you have done to me..." He places his left hand over his injured left eye, remembering that fateful day on his homeworld. Lowering his hand, he walks back to his chambers to rest, for a new day was coming and he wanted to be ready for it.

* * *

Darktailmon was sitting near the Castle's dried up fountain, cleaning her Digizodium Helmet with a special metal cleaner she found in server on her trip there. As she was cleaning it, the cat Digimon was thinking of things.

~I never did find the one who gave this to me. Maybe if I stay with her, I can find...~ She stopped in mid-thought as she remembers how she obtained the helmet...

******************************Flashback = 5 Years Ago*******************************************

She was in her Salamon form. Her energy almost completely drained from her. She had ran away from Primary Village because many digimon were taunting her. She told Electmon, the leader of Primary Village, and he did help her out by punishing the other In-Training and Rookie Digimon that were teasing her. Once their punishment was over however, that's when things turned bad. There were four Rookies that attacked her severely for telling on them. She barely managed to escape from them as she retreated to the surrounding forest, weak and nearly drained from what they did as she struggled to continue through. Salamon came to a creek and before she could get to the water, she fell to the ground, her eyes half open.

"Little girl..." A low voice gently called. "I sense your weariness... and your sorrow..." Salamon didn't even have the strength to move her head, all she could do was lie there, pant, and listen. She felt a sharp pain come from her back legs. "...And your pain..." She moved her eyes, to try and find the source. "I can take that away from you... and give you the power... to set things right." The voice said. Salamon's eyes opened a little at the words that the voice said. "If you wish... I could give it to you."

With the last bit of awakened strength, she replies. "Yes... I want... it...." She fell asleep, no more energy to keep her moving, but enough to keep her form.

When she awoke, there was a silver-looking helmet next to her. A note was next to it. Slowly, her limbs still recovering, she picks up the note and opens it. "` Put on the helmet, and your questions shall be answered. -Friend `" Salamon looks at the back of the paper. A Black and Grey Dragon-shaped picture surrounded by light purple flames was on the back of it. Remembering what the voice had said before, she puts down the note and picks up the helmet. It was made of metal with two holes on the top of it, the front of the helmet pointed down a couple of inches to a point giving it a menacing look. She slowly puts it on, fitting her small ears in the holes easily. Once it rested on her head, a surge of energy came through her.

"Sa... Salamon Digivolve to...!" Her body was covered in a black aura as her body began to grow in size. Her fur turned black. Her arms and legs grew longer. Her tail began to grow behind her, a black and purple fur pattern showing on it. A set of large, purple tipped ears grew from her head. The aura dies as she stands in her new Champion form. "Darktailmon." (A.N: After the power boost from the helmet, she can still take it off and she won't revert to her weak Salamon form. )

*****************************************One Year Later****************************************

Darktailmon has been traveling the Digiworld to find her partner, whom she decided was the one who gave her the helmet. During her travels she has found a crest with a Black Crystal on it with a tag inside an old castle filled with statues of dragons and tapestry of a giant flaming bird, and was using it to find her partner. She learned about the Control Spires, Black Rings and Spirals from watching the humans that destroyed them, and followed them secretly, thinking that they would lead her to her partner using her stealth abilities.

One day, she was hiding at a nearby TV when her crest began to glow brightly, as well as the TV. A black-haired girl wearing a traditional school uniform, a sash around her waist with a pole strapped behind her, and two sets of metal claws on the back of her hands, came through. She also noticed that she had a eye-patch over her right eye. Darktailmon leaped down the tree and onto the grassy ground in front of her. The girl grabbed one end of the pole and pulled out what looked like to be a long knife and crouched into an attack position, left hand in front, the knife hand in the back ready to strike. Darktailmon just watched her as she moved, also seeing that she was a couple of feet shorter than the girl.

-So graceful, yet deadly.... Maybe my search is over.- She thought to herself.

"What kind of cat are you?" The girl asks, not flinching a bit. A glow from the girl's sash distracted both of them. Standing straight, she moves her left hand and reaches inside to take out a diamond-shaped device. Instantly, the crest on Darktailmon's chest glowed and it's light went to the girl's device as a new power flowed through Darktailmon.

"Darktailmon Digivolve To..." Her small form grew to adult size as the girl took a step back, surprised herself by this. When Darktailmon was through, she said the name of her new form, which resembled Angewoman, but she had more of a gothic look to her.

"ChaosAngewomon." The girl put her weapon back into it's holder and walks slowly up to ChaosAngewomon, amazed at her transform ability.

"So, you're my partner?" The girl asks.

"Yes, my long search is over... I am your partner." ChaosAngewomon said to her, her voice slightly lower.

"My name is Sari Kasita." Sari walked up to ChaosAngewomon and shook her hand, being careful with her claws.

***************************************Flashback End******************************************

Darktailmon smiled at the memory of finally finding her partner. Unfortunately, Sari wasn't the one who had given her the helmet, so Darktailmon has always kept an eye out for clues that could help her. -Yeah...-

From above her, a black dragon flew by. "Hello kitty!" Vampveemon landed next to her. "What cha doing?"

"Thinking." Darktailmon sighed.

Vampveemon gave her a cautious look. "Hey, you're not thinking of---"

"Quitting? Not on your life, even if yours was long past gone. No, I was just thinking on how much better my life has become now. With Sari, and the power I gained from this helmet..." Darktailmon rested the helmet back onto her head as Vampveemon sat next to her.

"Well, do you remember what I said a while ago about that? That power never lasts?" Vampveemon asks her. Darktailmon turned her head and looked at him.

"Yeah, I remember." Darktailmon responded.

Vampveemon moved closer to her. "But there was another thing I came to talk to you for." Darktailmon looks at the bottle of metal cleaner in her hands.

"Sure. Go ahead." Vampveemon's face turned a little red.

"Well, I've kind of read about how one loves another and..." Vampveemon turned his head. "Acts as protector for his love." Darktailmon raised her head and looked at Vampveemon.

Darktailmon chuckles. "What? You like someone?" Vampveemon's face went another shade of red. Darktailmon could see this, even with his head turned. "Don't be embarrassed Vampveemon, it's not like you..."

Vampveemon returned her gaze, smiling. "It's funny though. I'm a creature of Darkness, yet I still have feelings for… her." he said.

Darktailmon continues to polish her helmet. "You know, Master Sari told me that if you have feelings like that, it could end up deleting you." Darktailmon stopped for a moment, turned to look at Vampveemon. "You best get rid of those feelings. If Lord Coren finds out about it, you'll never hear the end of it."

"Ugh, don't remind me." Vampveemon said, shaking his head. "Last thing I need to hear is that Floramon's scream again." Vampveemon spreads his wings, stretching his body.

Darktailmon was reminded of something. "That's why you asked me that. Because you were curious of what that Floramon felt about you, right?"

"Something like that... " Vampveemon said. "Because, when Floramon was deleted, I felt like a part of me went with her, like a portion of my heart. I still can't kill off that feeling." Putting the final touches on her helmet, she gave Vampveemon a small smile.

"Maybe it's not a feeling, but…" Darktailmon seemed to have caught Vampveemon's attention because he was looking at her. "… Maybe, …" Darktailmon looks up at the sky, Vampveemon following her gaze to the dark orange glow of the approaching sun.

"I think we better go back inside now." She replies.

"Yeah, sunlight isn't a good thing." Vampveemon replies as Darktailmon got her helmet and went with Vampveemon inside, leaving the ancient courtyard bare again.

* * *

Palmon gave another small sob as she sat on the couch next to Yolei and Davis, Lei was still unconscious on the couch in front of them. She hadn't said a word for hours and the sun was coming up. Izzy came in with a cup of hot tea and handed it to the distraught Digimon. She nodded in thanks and sipped it. Davis fell asleep, his head tipped back and his mouth ajar. He was snoring slightly. StarRenamon moved from the window and back to Lei's side, his chest still pulsing that small, purple light. Yawning, he sits down next to him on the couch and closed his eyes. FlamePalmon lies down on his lap and nuzzles against his armor. StarRenamon saw who it was and puts an arm around her and they both doze off.

"There's a cute couple." Yolei remarks to herself.

"Palmon what happened?" Izzy asked softy.

"We didn't expect her... she just appeared at the door and asked for something to drink. Mimi was asleep but I was-"

"Wait, slow down, who was at the door?" Yolei said.

"Gatomon. When I got her drink, she knocked me down and nearly knocked me out. I tried to fight back and smashed the glass in her face. But... her scars... they just... healed..." StarRenamon's ears twitched when he heard this and listened to her story for a while. "Then she got one of the kitchen knives and..." Palmon shuddered and closed her eyes, tears filling them, "She said something about how my wounds would heal after I was accepted. She looked to the door and I did too... Hawkmon was there. She said something to him... I couldn't understand."

"What do you mean?" Izzy asked. "It was some sort of language... I don't know... then Hawkmon went into.. went into Mimi's room. Gatomon followed him. I guess she didn't think I was strong enough to move. Before I could get out, though, I... heard Mimi... scream... I went back to try and help her but... Hawkmon saw me and started chasing me. The last thing I remember seeing before running out of there was... Gatomon... lunging at... Mimi..." Palmon buried her face in her hands and sobbed heavily. Yolei compassionately rubbed her back.

"Wait... Gatomon?" StarRenamon said looking up at Palmon, trying not to move so he wouldn't wake up FlamePalmon.

"Yes..." Palmon nodded.

"Are you sure? Gatomon would never do something that extreme."

"Neither would Hawkmon, or so I thought." Yolei sighed.

"Veemon… " Davis said, lost in his dreams. "Where are you..."

*********************************************************************************************

After some time, Izzy continued to talk to Palmon. "What did you mean by `her scars just healed'?" Izzy asked Palmon, rubbing his head in thought.

"I mean what I said. Some green goo came out of her wounds then sucked back in and her scars-"

"Green goo?" Yolei lifted and eyebrow, "When I threw Hawkmon into the coffee table, he was covered in cuts... and... the same thing happened."

"Green goo." Izzy nodded, "Yolei, I think something's inside your Digimon. If I could get a sample of their blood, I could run it through my computer and we'd have the results in ninety seconds flat."

"How?" Yolei asked.

StarRenamon lifted FlamePalmon's head up and puts a pillow under her head and gets up. She stirs a little, but goes back to her sleep. StarRenamon went to Lei to check on his condition.

Izzy grinned. "A little something I got from Joe. It's a program from America designed to isolate damaged or virus-infected cells in an organism. It's not even suppose to be known by the public."

"How did he get them?" Davis asked, a little more awake.

"Where else? I thought you knew he was there doing some research with the Americans."

"Oh, yeah, he brought Cody along too." Yolei nodded.

"We're getting off the subject, we need to find Hawkmon, Gatomon or Veemon and somehow get a sample from them."

"But... I'm not sure it's possible to even get NEAR them." Yolei said, "You heard what they did."

"Hmm..." Izzy nodded in thought. A casual knock at the door interrupted them and he got up to answer it, looking out the looking hole on the door.

"It's Gatomon."

"Don't let her in!" StarRenamon shouted. FlamePalmon woke up to StarRenamon's shout. Unfortunately, with the damage from the previous night done to the door all she had to do was kick it open. The door knocked Izzy back as Gatomon casually walks in.

"Oh, I see you remember me..." Gatomon gave an eerie smile. Izzy tried to get up, but the cat Digimon was too quick and leapt on top of him before he could, knocking him to the floor. The others stood up as Izzy wrestled with Gatomon. Yolei ran up to them but Gatomon knocked her back with her claws. Palmon didn't dare go near her and cowered on the couch next to Lei. StarRenamon didn't know either to help Izzy or protect Lei and Palmon. Noticing some movement from the kitchen, he smiled. Izzy tried desperately to push Gatomon off of him.

"Don't resist..." She hissed, "Join us!" Her eyes glowed white slightly as she said that, but Izzy wasn't looking at her when it happened. She dug her claws into Izzy's chest.

"Lava Vine!" FlamePalmon shot out her vines and quickly bound up Gatomon. She didn't let go and her claws ripped off Izzy's shirt and scratched his chest up some when her arms were pulled back.

"What the...?" Suddenly, Gatomon went stiff and suspended by the vines. Izzy quickly stood up. Davis was bouncing a frying pan in his hands, looking down at the bound cat digimon.

"You've got your specimen, Izzy." He nodded. A few minuets later, Gatomon was tightly tied to a chair with duct tape, her head limp from unconsciousness. Davis leaned against the wall next to her, the frying pan tightly gripped in his right hand.

"Nice thinking Davis. You too FlamePalmon." The blue fox commented. Davis just grinned.

"Never mess with a girl when she's half asleep..." FlamePalmon responded, looking down at Gatomon, retracting her vines, then turning around she went back to the couch and to her nap.

"That was cold..." Davis mumbled to himself.

* * *

One hour later...

Izzy was at his computer. "It will take a while for the program to boot up, we'll have to be patient." Izzy said, leaning back in his chair from the glowing screen.

"You shouldn't have lost that disk to begin with." Davis said, holding the kitchen tool ready if Gatomon wakes up.

"It couldn't be helped, I didn't know that I would be using it this early anyhow." Izzy said with a yawn. FlamePalmon was awake and atop StarRenamon's shoulder, sitting there and watched what was going on. Yolei volunteered to keep watch at the makeshift door (They took off the bathroom door and replaced it for the front door, a blanket replaced it.) A small gurgle came from Gatomon and she slowly woke up, bound to a chair. Shaking her head slightly, she strained against the duct tape.

"Inferior beings! There is no resisting us! You will all be one of us and under our control." She growled. She looked around and set her eyes on StarRenamon. "Even you, little foxy." She snickers. "Who couldn't even compare to Master Veemon!" StarRenamon glared at her angrily and growled slightly at the insult just as Davis moved in front of her.

"What's going on? What have you done to Veemon?!" He shouted.

Gatomon sneered. "He is one of us."

"I don't care what he is! What did you do to HIM?!" *CLANG* Davis smacked her across her face with the frying pan.

"You won't get anything out of me!" Gatomon spat in Davis' face. Enraged, Davis lifted the frying pan for a fatal swing.

"WAIT! Davis, we need her alive!!!!" Izzy held him back with some help from StarRenamon and Yolei. Gatomon laughed evilly at the four.

"Damn you! I'll kill her! Let me go! One hit! That's all I want!!!" Izzy looked at him and gasped. The spit Gatomon had planted on Davis' face was glowing a bright white/green color.

"Wait!!" He ran to the computer and retrieved an eyedropper. He came back and extracted the spit from Davis' face. Using her vines again, FlamePalmon slipped the frying pan away from Davis.

"Like Izzy said, he needs her alive so watch your temper, Davis." FlamePalmon told him cheerily. Davis, now weaponless goes mumbling in to the kitchen, anger still showing in his face. FlamePalmon gave the pan to StarRenamon with a little smile. StarRenamon picked up a sound from the living room. Worried for his partner, StarRenamon went there to check up on him. FlamePalmon jumped down and stayed to see what she could also learn about this new creature, so she walked up to the computer where Izzy was.

"Now, let's see what we have here..." He said, opening a tray in his computer. He pushed it back in and a time bar on the computer appeared. He watched it move for a second before a message came up.

"Yes! Foreign anomaly found! Now all the program needs to do is try and recognize it's DNA." After a few more seconds, the computer beeped in annoyance. Izzy leaned forward in his chair. His mouth was slacked open.

"What? Anomaly not found?" He pressed a few buttons on the computer then growled.

"What's going on?" Davis looked over at him from the kitchen, washing off his face.

"I don't know. The computer had the sample... then it... just disappeared." Izzy shook his head.

As Izzy was trying to figure out what's happening, Gatomon decided to find a way to get herself free.

"Hey, Red." FlamePalmon looked to the taped-up Gatomon.

"My name is FlamePalmon." FlamePalmon said calmly, smiling, looking at the possessed feline, her voice still bearing a resemblance to a little girl. Gatomon's eyes narrowed as she set out an evil grin across her face.

"How does it feel to know that Demirenamon still loves me?" Gatomon asks her.

"That's not true anyhow so I'd advise you to stay quiet." FlamePalmon said as she turned away, a little rustled at the comment.

"That's not what I know. We were together just a few nights ago, me up on top and him beneath. Demirenamon said that he will always stay with me, love me, and...." The red digimon snarled. One constant trait of fire-types in anything is that they always have short tempers. Somehow, Gatomon knew this. "...he will never give himself to a Digimon like you."

FlamePalmon turned again, slightly growling, her eyes seemed to have a fire inside. Izzy noticed a moment too late.

"LAVA SLAM!!" FlamePalmon screeched. Entwining her vines, she makes a big one and smacks Gatomon across the face. Something on Gatomon snapped as she was knocked senseless. FlamePalmon's vines retracted and she stood there panting.

"Maybe that will keep you quiet." She told her, her peaceful exterior no longer there. Her voice could cut titanium from the edge it had and she looked like she was about to explode with anger. Izzy and Davis looked at each other as FlamePalmon attempted to calmed herself down.

"And I thought Yolei had a short temper..." Davis murmurs to himself from the kitchen.

"Heh Heh..." Izzy chuckled nervously. "This might be a good time to try a blood sample." Izzy walked over to Gatomon with a needle.

"MAGATI!!!! TORA MAGATI SOR KA MIRO TORI TARISU !?!?!?" Gatomon suddenly came back to life, yelling in a strange language with renewed energy. Davis and Izzy looked at each other for a moment.

"What the hell was that?" Davis and Izzy ask eachother.

"What's going on in there?!" Yolei called from the living room. Seemed like she was having a bit of trouble.

"… You got me on that one, unless you hit her too hard or something." Izzy said to Davis. They both heard a cry from the living room as Gatomon continued to shout out in that language.

*********************************************************************************************

"Calm down Palmon." Yolei said, trying to calm her, kneeling down next to her. Palmon had panicked when she started to hear that same language from the previous night and was cowering in a corner of the room.

"No!!! Don't let her get me!" Palmon shouted out, lashing out at Yolei to stay away, panicking.

*********************************************************************************************

"'Never. I… will never give… in to your ways…' is what I think she is saying." StarRenamon says to Izzy.

"You can understand her---" CLANG! Everyone looked to see Davis, frying pan in hand, over Gatomon. After the second blow, Gatomon was finally KO 'ed and silenced.

"She was giving me a headache." Davis said, shaking his head, looking down at her.

"You know, if you use the syringe on the counter, she'll stay out longer." Izzy told Davis, pointing to a needle on his dresser. Davis looked over to it and shrugged.

"This way is more fun." He grinned at the group. FlamePalmon nodded her head and grinned alongside him, her eyes still had the fire look to them. She calmed down after a while and the fire left her eyes.

Hours passed but there was still no good news. StarRenamon went to go check on Lei again, except this time FlamePalmon went with him. Yolei came into Izzy's room to see how the search was going. Izzy watched anxiously at the computer screen. With a short beep, He growled in frustration.

"DAMMIT!" He hit the table, "Every time the computer gets a hold of this damn thing it disappears before proper tests can be taken." He sighed, calming himself, "It just keeps dying before I can get specific information." He looked at Gatomon, who was slowing awakening, "It's almost like it can't survive if it leave-DAVIS WAIT!!" He barely stopped Davis from knocking the Digimon out with a fierce blow to the head. FlamePalmon took the pan again with her vines.

"What... Hey quit that!" Davis said.

"Uh-Uh-uuh" She replied, waving a vine finger. Izzy waved a needle in front of him.

"What?" He turned to Izzy, irritated.

"Use the anesthetic. She'll stay out longer." Izzy glared. Davis sighed in defeat. He injected Gatomon and she was out for the third time. Izzy stood up and stretched before walking over to Gatomon. He didn't want it to come down to this, but he had no choice. Drastic measures had to be taken for the protection of the Digidestined.

"Davis... can I... speak with you for a second?" He pulled Davis into the kitchen. Lei walks to the group, StarRenamon behind him, and sees a bound, sleeping Gatomon. Lei stared at her sleeping form as he sat down next to Yolei. FlamePalmon walked to StarRenamon's side.

"You alright? I thought I heard some commotion earlier?" StarRenamon asks his fire friend.

"Nothing I couldn't handle. Tee hee!" FlamePalmon giggles. Lei looked down and shook his head.

"You ok?" Yolei asks him.

"Yeah, thought I saw something." Silence filled the room for a moment. "Fun night this turned out to be, eh Yolei? About matches that big battle we all had a few months back with that Floramon." Yolei looked at Lei.

"Yeah. You hear about Palmon?"

"StarRenamon told me, and I guess my little secret is out now." He puts his hand onto his chest, over where his Crest of Time is.

"But what is... your 'Power' that StarRenamon mentioned?" Yolei asked.

"I'm not quite sure how I got it, just that it comes natural for me. I've tried to figure it out, but no luck. Now... " Lei shrugged. "I never worry about it." Silence stood for a moment.

"So.. how did you become a Digidestined?" Yolei asked. Lei took off his pendant and showed it to her. It looked like a normal stopwatch, except twelve arrows outside of two circles. "I was working on my computer one day, the first day of my abilities research, when this crest shot from it."

"That's how I got my..." Reaching inside a side pocket, he takes out his Digivice.

"Wha... How...?" Yolei took out hers and compared it with his. Yolei's was shaped like an oval with a screen and two buttons, while Lei's was star shaped and had eight buttons around a square screen in the center.

"This is what I found. With what I already knew of computers, I quickly learned how some of the features worked, as well as with certain cards I've made for StarRenamon, which I've designed in accordance to my own abilities." He puts the Digivice away as Yolei did hers. Izzy yelled something at Davis from the kitchen, but they didn't notice. "I kept it with me after that. I soon learned how to activate a Digiport and often traveled the Digiworld, seeing it's sights and ... learning a few things." Yolei remembered something about that.

"I thought I saw someone that time in those woods, before you entered that Digimon town."

"Yeah, that was me. If you or the others were around, I would follow and see what was going on... well, while I was walking through a forest that no one had come around for a while, I found a strange egg, with clock designs on it, near what looked like a rotting ancient Temple. When I touched it... well, you know with yours." She nodded. "It was a bit difficult at first but since the MaloMyotismon attack, we've been partners, looking out for one and another." Lei finished.

"Well, what about your partner's friend, FlamePalmon." Lei looked back and saw that FlamePalmon was on StarRenamon's shoulder at a recliner, behind where Gatomon was, talking to him.

"That one is a friend of mine's partner. She's ill at the moment..." Lei turned back and lowered his head. "Well, StarRenamon found her about the same time after you all beat MaloMyotismon." Yolei nodded in understanding. Lei looked up to her. "They are close friends now." Yolei smiled as Lei put the Crest back under his shirt. Lei smiled back.

There was a startled yell from the kitchen, "No... OHHHHH HO HO HOOOO NO!" Then the sound of Izzy holding a laugh.

"Something's up." Lei murmured as he and Yolei looked at the closed kitchen door. Another yell came from there. It was slightly muffled, but everyone heard it good enough to know what it was. A few minuets later, Izzy lead Davis back into the computer room in front of Gatomon. They looked at each other then at Yolei, Lei, and Palmon, sitting on the couch laughing quietly. Even StarRenamon and FlamePalmon were snickering a little.

"Did you really have to tell them?" Davis whispered. Izzy shrugged,

"I didn't do a thing. They must have heard us."

"Hey, can I have a little privacy?" Davis looked to the girls.

"What if Gatomon... hee... wakes up and tries to... pftt, heh heh... attack you?" Palmon giggled.

"Come on, Davis." Yolei chuckled, "Go ahead and work your magic." Lei had to will himself to keep from laughing at Davis' situation. StarRenamon and FlamePalmon just kept to themselves, laughing.

"I might just use up so much magic I won't have enough left for YOU." Davis hissed. Yolei immediately fell silent. The others got the hint from his look he made at Yolei and stopped as well. StarRenamon got up from the chair and went to Lei.

"Well, you guys have your fun, I'm going to the other room for a while." Lei said as he got up and left Izzy's room. He went into the living room. StarRenamon along with FlamePalmon followed him. FlamePalmon dropped from StarRenamon's shoulder as he sat down next to him on the couch, FlamePalmon next to StarRenamon. Lei was thinking hard about something.

"I still think that all of this is familiar for some reason. As if I..." Lei stopped in midsentance.

"What?" StarRenamon asked, FlamePalmon listening to the two.

Lei chuckled a little. "As if I had seen this happen before." He shakes his head. "Well, what all happened while I was out?"

"Gatomon has a slimy thing in her, green and sick looking..." FlamePalmon tried to explain.

"Well... basicly, after we got you here last night, Yolei told Izzy what happened and I also told my part with Gatomon. Palmon came rushing in with Hawkmon chasing her, probably under the same thing as Gatomon, so that's why she's here. Gatomon tried to get Izzy earlier, but with Davis and FlamePalmon's teamwork, they caught her."

"Ha ha!" FlamePalmon cheered, raising her vine-fingered hand in victory.

"Izzy had been trying to get a sample from her and now, this is where we are. Sitting here and..." He raised his paw up a little before lowering it back onto his leg.

"Hmmm... That's good to kno---"

A LOT of swearing and laughter came from the computer room, breaking Lei's train of thought.

"Let's see what's going on here?" StarRenamon asks.

"Of course." Lei said as he got up with the other two. Before they could make it to the door, Davis ran out at high speed and went to the kitchen sink and hastily washed his mouth out and his hands.

"Find anything Davis?" Lei said with a smile. Davis got so mad that smoke began to appear, which was from the sink because he turned the hot water up too high.

"YEEOOWW!!! Hot Hot HOT!!!" Davis screamed as he turned the hot water down.

Lei looked into the computer room, seeing everyone laughing and Izzy at the computer.

"Learn anything Izzy?" Lei asked as the three took their spot next to Yolei.

"It... uh... SUCCESSFUL!! THE COMPUTER TARGETED THE ANOMALY!!" Izzy leapt up.

"Yippee..." Davis groaned from the kitchen, rinsing his mouth out thoroughly. Izzy stood in front of the others, holding a long sheet of computer paper. After looking it over, he looked up at Davis.

"First, I'd like to thank you for getting the successful speci-"

"Just tell us what the damn thing is." Davis sulked angrily. Lei stifled a laugh. Davis glared at him.

"Something funny?" Davis shots at Lei, who got quiet.

"Sorry." Lei muttered. Davis turned back to Izzy.

"Um... okay." Izzy cleared his throat,

"Well... the computer got as much information as it could from what I could get and... uh..."

"And what?" Yolei leaned forward, "You act like you've stumbled upon a new... a new..." Izzy smiled.

"The computer doesn't even recognize the element it's made of. Apparently we've discovered an entirely new... well... everything! Now, from what the computer is telling me, it's very parasitic and cannot last for more than thirty seconds without a host."

"That's why it was so hard to get a sample. But how did we manage to get one from Gatomon?"

"Simple." Izzy grinned, "This parasite attaches itself to glands throughout the body by it's own secrations, thus the 'green goo' effect when injured. To control the body, or host if you will, the organism… " Izzy looked at a blinking part on his computer screen. "Hmmm, it looks like it wraps itself around the body's spinal column and sends tendrils up to the brain, like strings on a puppet. It regulates the electronic messages each brain cell sends to one another and redirects. Therefore, it has complete control of the host, using it's own electricity against them. Not only does it have complete control, but it gives the host supernatural abilities, increasing them ten-fold. It seems that this one is a independent parasite, where usually ones like this have a leading organism to give commands like how ants are. This is quite a clever little anomaly."

"That would explain the language Gatomon and Hawkmon were using." Yolei nodded.

"Okay, but how does it get around?" Palmon asked.

"By Mouth-to-Mouth contact, as Davis here found out." Davis gave a little shiver from that experience that he went through. Lei glanced at StarRenamon, the blue digimon's head down, his face showing a slight trace of fear.

"She could've converted me into one of..."

"Don't worry about it. She didn't did she?" Lei reassured.

"True..." StarRenamon replied.

"Then don't worry about it." Lei said. StarRenamon nodded to him.

"Did she now? She did mention something about a few nights ago…" FlamePalmon said in a little girl voice.

"Flames! Nothing happened. I got away before she could do anything!" FlamePalmon looks into StarRenamon's eyes, a spark of fire appearing in FlamePalmon's eyes.

"Honestly!" FlamePalmon stared at him a moment longer, then turned away. "At least you could've told me..." FlamePalmon had her arms crossed and eyes closed. StarRenamon was worried about what she was thinking.

-I hope she doesn't hate me for not telling her.- StarRenamon thought to himself. Lei was deep in thought about what Izzy was saying.

-Something's wrong with this... It can't be parasitic...- Very faintly Lei saw a silhouette of a white snake seemingly to appear then disappear from Gatomon's lower body, spiraling up to her head.

"You got to be kidding me..." Lei whispered and stared wide-eyed at Gatomon for a moment. "Did anyone noticed that?" Lei asked everyone. A round of whats went around. "There was a ... snake coiled around her for a second.. then disappeared." Almost everyone was confused except for Izzy. Recognition appeared in his eyes, but he didn't say anything and looked back at his results. "Maybe I'm still seeing things..." Lei said to himself. Yolei spoke up before anything else erupted.

"Well, so far all it sounds like it does is control people... or Digimon to kiss a lot." She shrugged.

"There's more..." Izzy swallowed, "This parasite feeds off of... electricity. Digimon, being such large providers of this source, are primary targets. But what gets me is why is it only using Digimon..." Suddenly, Davis spoke up.

"Uh, hey, there isn't going to be a quiz on this, is there? Because... you lost me."

"I'll tell you later." Izzy sighed.

"So how do we stop this thing?" Yolei asked.

"My computer is looking a common weakness for the organism, but it will take some time. After all, this IS a new element and all. Oh, speaking of which, I've decided to call this thing's element Izzium... for obvious reasons." Izzy beamed with pride.

"Hey, hey, hey, buddy." Davis stood up, "I was the one who kissed the cat here." Izzy simply rolled his eyes.

Lei glanced at StarRenamon and then murmured, "Hope he don't regret that..." StarRenamon nods as FlamePalmon fell asleep beside him.

End of Chapter 4


	5. CH5: Forgivness Clears a Path

Disclaimer: All TOEI Digimon and such belong to them. Any other characters, well, they belong to me, Chaos Knight Matthew. I did used a few ideas that were used from Trillermon's Infection Story, which motivated me to try this one out... I hope he doesn't mind... I'm not really too keen on the geography of the Digimon world or where the Digidestined live so if there is something that doesn't seem right with placement, let me know at . Thanks.

Anyhow... Enjoy the story.

Chapter 5: Forgiveness clears a Path

The Digidestined ended up waiting the entire day just for the results to come from Izzy's computer. Lei and StarRenamon sitting near the window, looking outside every now and again, FlamePalmon sitting with Palmon, talking, Yolei sitting next to Davis in silence, still a little shocked by what Hawkmon, her faithful Digimon, had tried to do to her and Davis was quiet too, more than likely thinking about his own partner.

By nightfall, Davis was getting a little too tired of waiting, having gotten no sleep for nearly fourteen hours, he retired to the guest room to get a little bit of rest, being careful not to wake up Yolei. The other Digidestined were sleeping at this point, so no one noticed a young, brown-haired girl sneak by a few moments later. StarRenamon and Lei were, unfortunately, asleep at the window, Yolei and Palmon were asleep on the couch and Izzy is asleep at the computer as a little piece of paper fly across the screen as the searching continues, FlamePalmon asleep against StarRenamon. A few minuets passed. Yolei stirred awake and felt a little thirsty, so she went into the kitchen for something to drink. After getting her a glass of water, she heard something from the guest room. Taking the frying pan that Davis used on Gatomon, she goes to the door to the guest room and places her ear on it listening. She can hear a voice in the room.

"... let Yolei take you away from me."

Yolei stood back. -What the...?- She pondered about it for a moment before opening the door. Over at the couch where StarRenamon and his friend, FlamePalmon was sleeping at, FlamePalmon twitched slightly and let out a little groan. Her dream of her and Demirenamon was starting to turn into a nightmare.

****************************************FlamePalmon's Dream************************************

FlamePalmon and Demirenamon were enjoying the mid-day air as they had their picnic in the Digital World, in the forest that was near Primary Village.

"So, how do you like my surprise?" She asked her friend.

"Well, I wasn't expecting a picnic, but so far I like it." Demirenamon told her, a smile on his face. "Still, how did you know that cheese sandwiches are my favorites?"

FlamePalmon looked at her friend. "Well, it's also my favorite." She said to him. They started to eat the cheese sandwiches, when Demirenamon suddenly doubled in pain. The sky began to grow dark.

"What's wrong? Was it the sandwiches?" FlamePalmon asks, worried. One of Demirenamon's gloved hands reached out to her, as if warning her to stay away from him.

"No... Stay away...Flame-- AHH!" He shouted in pain. Not listening to him, she still jumps to his side.

"What's the matter?" The other hand shot out at her, only this time it wasn't orange... it was purple, and doubled in size. He grabbed her throat and began to squeeze the life out of her, raising her up higher and higher as Demirenamon's form changed.

"D... Demirenamon...?" He looked at her as he rose to stand up, suspending the red plant in the air by the neck.

"Your mistake was that you didn't listen to your friend...." A female voice called out from the dark sky. "Now you die, stupid plant. May your next life be more forgiving. Ha ha ha ha ha ha!!" Her laugh echoed across the area. She looked down at the source of the purple glove. It looked like Demirenamon, but his fur seemed to be switched, black to blue and blue to black. An evil aura covered this demon from head to toe. The black fox in purple armor stared at her, slowly changing from the once happy eyes of Demirenamon, to a dark and cruel set. He said her name, his voice as deep as a gorge.

"FlamePalmon...." She could still hear her attacker's voice over the laughter.

"FlamePalmon!" It was getting louder and higher as he squeezed her neck with unbelievable force. Her spine inside of her neck was beginning to snap.

"FlamePalmon!! Wake up!!" Was the last she heard as she fainted and dissolved into nothing.

**********************************************End********************************************

"FlamePalmon!! Wake up!!" StarRenamon was one of the first ones awake. The brown -haired girl turned out to be Kari and she wasn't on a social visit. StarRenamon looked over to where Gatomon was and saw Kari running to her. He was trying to get FlamePalmon off of him, but she held on to his armor, scared almost to death to let go.

After tearing the duct tape to shreds, Kari pulled Gatomon up. Izzy looked around, uncertain yet to what's going on.

"... Kari, What are you doing?!" Izzy asks her. He notices that her clothes looked a little tattered, ripped in some areas.

"_Jor keir poa rota roto , Keruti?_" ("What does it look like, smart boy?") Kari said, a menacing grin on her face. Izzy didn't understand at first why Kari was acting like this. "_Yri erso que Kerpokin trie!_" ("I'm getting my Digimon back.") With that, she shoved Izzy to the floor, causing him to hit his head on the shelf behind him knocking down almost all his books on top of him, and burst out of the computer room, then out the front door of the apartment, running down the street with inhuman speed. Lei was the second to awake as he was the first to make a move. As Kari raced out the door, Lei had only noticed for three seconds that her eyes looked a little off. He ran out the door, his backpack falling off his back, Yolei standing at the doorway, a mean look to her face and a frying pan in her right hand. She watched the two run and grits her teeth.

"Paraspell!" Lei cried out, hand aimed at the retreating group. A white light shot from his hand, missing the two and leaving no remains of the spell as it hit the ground. He tried again before his weirdness got to him, but missed again. Lowering his hand, he gets his fallen backpack and heads back inside.

* * *

Kari got a good ways away, avoiding Lei's paralyzing spell in the process, but she didn't get very far. The parasite in her didn't realize how frail she was at maintaining the speed needed of her and collapsed onto the ground, holding Gatomon tight as she rested. She was over at the park when she fell.

"I don't know Patamon, this might be your best chance to win Gatomon over. She needs a friend to be with her at times like these." T.K. said to his partner, Patamon, who was resting on his head.

"Maybe you're right T.K… I'm just not sure how to approach her…" Patamon said to him. He looked further ahead and saw Kari lying on the ground. "T.K.!!! Kari's on the ground!!"

"What?!" He said, looking in Patamon's direction. He also sees Kari on the ground, holding Gatomon close to her, her clothes tattered and torn. "Kari!!" T.K. runs to her and kneels down next to her, checking her. "She doesn't look too good… we need to get these two out of here. Can you carry Gatomon?" T.K. asks his partner.

"Of course I can! Let's hurry back home." Patamon said to him as T.K. moved Kari's arms so that Patamon could get Gatomon. T.K. picked up Kari and they both carried the exhausted two to their apartment.

* * *

"No human could've avoided that... That was one of 'them' I guess..." Lei asks StarRenamon as he and Yolei came back inside and closed the door. StarRenamon nods in answer to his partner's question. Lei's sleepy eyes close. "Oh." He fell to the floor, exhausted from the effort used for his magic and lack of sleep. StarRenamon still couldn't get FlamePalmon off him to help Lei, not wanting to hurt her if he tried to get up. Izzy came back to the room, hand on the side of his head.

"What... What'd I miss..." Izzy looked down and saw Lei on the floor near the door. He runs to his aid, putting Lei's arm over his neck and carrying him back to the couch, Yolei on the other side of him. After setting him down, Izzy quickly went to the door to shut and lock it The blue fox reaches for his backpack on the floor. He gets it and tosses it onto the table. FlamePalmon slowly woke up.

"Star? Oh...It was horrible!" She sobbed.

"What was?" StarRenamon asked. FlamePalmon didn't respond, just kept on crying, her tears falling on the blue fox's bronze armor. "There there..." StarRenamon said soothingly, petting her petal on the back of her head. Davis walked out of the bedroom and looked around.

"Wow..." He said simply.

"ANNNNND YOU!" Yolei snapped around. Lei opened his eyes a little at the sudden cry and turned to face Yolei. StarRenamon, still trying to comfort FlamePalmon, Palmon and Izzy lifted their heads in surprise. FlamePalmon sniffled and looked to see what was going on. Davis eeped at the sight of the frying pan.

"WHAT exactly were you doing?" She growled.

"Well... uh... y'see..." Davis chuckled nervously, rubbing the back of his head and sweating, "Uh... she forced me! It's not my fault!"

"Like HELL it isn't! Not even one yell for help!" Yolei slapped the frying pan in her hand, making Davis jump.

"I, guh... er... was going to wait.... for the right moment!"

"And WHEN would that be, HMM?" Yolei grit her teeth, "When you were SCREWING HER?!"

"Uh-oh.." Lei muttered thankful that only StarRenamon heard him. FlamePalmon was within hearing, but was still too distraught from her dream to pay notice. Davis blushed deeply and rubbed the back of his head.

"Yolei... I wasn-"

"DON'T YOU `YOLEI' ME!!" She yelled, smacking Davis across the face with the metallic pan. He hit the ground, knocked out from the blow, and Yolei stomped into Izzy's bedroom, slamming the door. Izzy and Palmon exchanged nervous glances. Lei told StarRenamon in his lowest talking level,

"I wouldn't want to get on her bad side, who knows what would happen to me."

"No kidding... and I thought Flames here had a bad temper." StarRenamon said, as FlamePalmon cried herself to sleep. Lei closed his eyes and went back to sleep, the exertion of the spell catching up to him.

* * *

Izzy blinked at his computer screen. It hummed with indifference as "SEARCHING..." kept blinking on the screen.

"Of course!" Izzy said to himself, trying to figure out what exactly happened. "Humans do harbor some electricity inside them. That could be the only reason." Izzy sighs and yawns, rubbing his eyes. Looking around, Davis was still knocked out on the floor but moved next to the couch, as he had been for the past few hours. Izzy was considerate enough to put a pillow under his head. Yolei was still locked up in the other room. Palmon had moved and fallen asleep in an arm chair in the corner, so Izzy was the only left up with Lei, StarRenamon, and that red digimon, FlamePalmon, back at their post. Lei was knocked out so he was sleeping while StarRenamon watched outside, determined not to let the same thing happen again. FlamePalmon was asleep also, StarRenamon continued to pet her maroon petal on the back of her head to keep her calm. Izzy stood up from his chair and stretched with a grunt as he stepped into the kitchen. Aside from seeing his digimon friends being taken over by a green blob, being attacked by quite a few people, and not getting any sleep, he was keeping things pretty well together. Izzy poured himself a cup of hot tea as he turned to go back into the living room. Seeing StarRenamon, he asks, "StarRenamon?"

The blue fox looked his way. "Yes?"

"Would you like some tea?"

"Sure, if it's not too much trouble." Izzy went back in and made another cup for the guardian fox. As he walked out with two cups of hot tea, he yelled with surprise as he nearly walked into Yolei, dropping his cup.

"Jeeze... Yolei... Where... What...?" Izzy said, startled, almost dropping StarRenamon's cup.

"I need to talk..." Yolei sighed, walking into the kitchen and sitting at the table. Izzy took a deep breath.

"Hold on." He took StarRenamon his cup.

"Thanks." He replies. StarRenamon noticed Yolei enter the kitchen. -I hope she's alright...- He thinks to himself. Curious to know what's going on, he listens to what they are talking about.

Izzy went back to the kitchen and picked up his cup, pouring more tea, throwing a towel over the mess on the floor, then sat down across from her.

"Something bothering you?" He asked.

"Well... It's about Davis."

"Right..." Izzy nodded, "You DO know it really wasn't his fault?"

"Yeah... But... But, still..." Yolei sighed, closing her eyes, "Ever since we started dating and everything... Well... I just felt that... Davis still had feelings for Kari..."

"What do you expect? He loved her first."

"I know... But I mean... I can't help but think about that. How I was second choice... And how... Well... Davis might not really care about me..."

"What?" Izzy nearly spat out his tea, "How can you think that? He really does-"

"Love me?" Yolei interrupted, "I don't know... I've seen the way Davis acts around her... I thought that maybe... If Kari... Changed her mind about her feelings towards Davis... He'd leave me at the drop of a hat..."

"Hey, we all know Davis really loved Kari, but we also know that he would never do anything THAT harsh." Izzy assured. "Besides, I don't think that Kari was exactly herself tonight."

Yolei sighed and nodded. "When I saw... Kari on top of him... Like that... All my fears... Just kind of... Got the better of me." Yolei sniffed and shook her head, "I'm really sorry about overreacting..."

"I think you're telling the wrong guy this..." Izzy nodded towards the living room. Yolei looked back and nodded, getting up from the table.

"Thanks, Izzy..."

"What are Digidestined for?" He smiled back, watching Yolei walking into the living room. StarRenamon glanced at her as she went to Davis. Yolei sat next to Davis, looking at him and running her hand through his hair. She sighed and gently shook him awake.

"Guh... Uhhmmm... Wha?" Davis grumbled, looking around with his vision blurred,

"Y... Yolei? Uhg... What time is it?"

"Almost morning... I need to talk to you." Yolei pulled him up off the floor.

"That's something you never want to hear..." She lead a groggy and slightly disorientated Davis into Izzy's room. StarRenamon watched them leave.

-I'm sure they'll work things out.- He looked back down to FlamePalmon. She was sleeping soundly now, giving off a little moan after each exhale every once in a while. The blue fox looked at her a moment longer, then looked back outside, watching the sky light up with the morning light. He didn't see them for the rest of the morning.

* * *

Kari woke up, now fully rested. She felt her chest, where Gatomon was, but felt nothing there. Opening her eyes, she figured she was at T.K. and Matt's apartment. Looking around, she sees Gatomon next to her, still sleeping and slightly bandaged. -Hmm… This might be just the opportunity I needed to get Numbers 20 and 21 while I'm here… Now, where is he- -

"You're awake?" T.K. asked her, Patamon flying next to him. "How did you end up like that Kari? You looked like you were raped or some… thing…" After he said that, she started to cry, as if that's what had actually happened. Kari jumped a little, startled out of her thoughts as she looks to the two, a sad expression on her face. Patamon helped Gatomon into the next room to care for her there.

"I… Gatomon and I were heading home from a store errand and someone had pulled me to the shadows. I tried calling for help, but… he put his hand over my mouth…" Kari tried to explain, a few tears falling from her eyes. "The next thing I knew I was on the ground in the park, I could barely move at all… I was so scared…"

"Kari!" T.K. said in shock. He leaned forward and gave her a comforting hug. "Who would do such a thing to you…" He semi-asked her, his anger building up inside him at a rapid rate. Kari pushed on T.K. a little going face to ace with him, whispering…

"Thank you for caring so much about me…" And gave him a deep kiss. T.K. felt something wrong with the kiss and tried to get away, but his body suddenly became limp as she let him go, her eyes glowing white slightly. "Welcome to the group… Number 21." Kari said to T.K. as he sat up a little, stretching his limbs.

"It's good to be here… What next love?" T.K. asked her, a hint of lust in his slightly lit eyes as the snake got a better hold onto his spine.

"How about a little fun with our new bodies, hmm?" Kari said, just as a scratched up Patamon tried to escape from the other room nearby, but Gatomon pulled him right back in.

"T.K!!! Don't kiss her! Whatever you do don't let her- Ack!" T.K had gotten up and grabbed his faithful partner by the back of the neck, holding him up in the air with a strange strength that T.K. never had before.

"Need some help Number 3?" T.K. asked Gatomon as he pinned Patamon down on the ground.

"Thanks much… Seems like your feelings for Kari are your motivation… Nice catch Number 10." Gatomon said to her partner with a grin as she advanced onto Patamon. All three of the enslaved people and digimon had the same evil-like grin as the darkness of their shadows covered Patamon completely.

* * *

Back at Izzy's house …

Izzy had nodded off in front of his computer and didn't notice Davis and Yolei walk in.

"That was a nice nap." Davis remarked. Yolei tapped him on the arm playfully. Then they noticed Izzy. Seeing Izzy asleep, Yolei chuckled and pulled him away from the computer, lying him on the couch.

"Spirit is willing..." She chuckled, "But the flesh is weak."

Davis nodded and looked over at the computer monitor. "Search complete..." He hummed.

"What's that?" Yolei looked up. Lei woke up a few minuets before Yolei and Davis came into the room. He was up and putting on his backpack. Lei noticed something outside. He looked and saw that night was approaching.

"How long did I sleep..." Lei asked himself. He thought about waking his fox partner, who had fallen asleep with FlamePalmon on his lap, but didn't. -They need the sleep. He's been keeping watch all day...- Lei thought. Lei joined the three at the computer. Davis nodded to the monitor.

"That's what it says." Yolei immediately ran up and nearly knocked Davis down. Lei was behind Izzy's chair, barely avoiding Yolei himself. He slowly read what was flashing to himself.

"Search... Complete." -Well... maybe it is parasitic.- Lei thought to himself. Yolei read the screen over and ran back to Izzy.

"IZZY! WAKE UP!" She shook him violently. He grunted and snapped awake, looking up at Yolei.

"Wha... What? What?? What is it?" He groggily sat up.

"LOOK!" Without waiting for an answer, she yanked Izzy up and pushed him to the computer. He sat down and brushed himself off, giving Yolei an odd look before turning to the computer. He scanned over the message and blink, rereading it.

"So? What does it say??" Yolei said eagerly. Davis went over to the computer as well, looking over Izzy's shoulder, pushing Lei away by mistake. Lei went to the spot where Davis was. As Izzy typed rapidly on the keyboard, various graphs and lists came up. Finally, the computer beeped and popped up with a small list.

"Well... According to this... The one ingredient we have that this thing is weak against is... Sodium Benzoate..."

"Great, so we need, like, some sort of permit to get this stuff or something?" Davis sighed.

"I'm... Not entirely sure..." Izzy leaned back in his chair, "It sounds familiar... But..." Izzy got up and quickly went into his room.

"What is it?" Yolei asked.

"I'm not sure... I've got some chemistry books I can look through." Izzy replied form the other room. Lei groaned and lowered his head.

"Great, more waiting..." Davis sighed, plopping down on the couch next to a sleeping Palmon. She stirred awake and stretched. Lei walked back in and sat back next to StarRenamon. As Izzy went into the other room to gather the books, Yolei sat down next to Davis with a sigh.

"By the time we find a way to stop this thing, all of our Digimon friends will have been turned into zombies..." Davis groaned.

"Everything will be fine." Yolei patted his arm and kissed his cheek, giving his hand a squeeze, "We've always found a way to get past evil before. And well get through it again." Davis muttered something and nodded, seemingly deep in thought. Yolei looked down at his hand and stroked her thumb along his palm, squeezing again as she spoke. "Want something to drink?"

"A soda would be nice." He nodded. Yolei smiled and kissed his cheek before getting up and heading into the kitchen as Izzy returned with an armful of books dropping them down onto a table. Davis felt a strange feeling coming over him, like something was happening that shouldn't be happening or something to that effect. Yolei noticed and was a little worried. "You ok Davis?" She asked him.

"Yeah… I think so." Davis said as she headed for the kitchen. Lei groaned again and puts his right hand onto his head, still feeling a little piece of the headache from before.

"What a day this has been." Lei muttered to himself before following Yolei into the kitchen. StarRenamon and FlamePalmon's snores were barely audible in their sleep. Davis watched Lei as he left, then focused on Izzy as he searched through the pages of the chemical books. He leaned deeper into the cushions and closed his eyes. His and his friend's Digimon companions were turning into slaves for some sort of goo, the world would most likely be next, so far the Digidestined were powerless to stop it, and on top of all that, his own best friend Veemon was the infected by this thing. Davis never felt so much pressure be bestowed on so few destined children left. And how many of his friends truly WERE his friends anymore? The Digidestined of Courage shook his head from the plaguing thoughts and looked up as Yolei handed him a grape soda. Lei was right behind her as he regained his spot on the couch, opening his soda. It woke up the sleeping couple.

"You didn't get me one...?" StarRenamon moaned as he stretched his legs. FlamePalmon was also stretching her limbs and yawned. She blinked her eyes twice and asked.

"One of what?" Lei reached in his jacket pockets and produced two sodas, one cherry, the other grape. FlamePalmon got the cherry one as StarRenamon got the other. He opens FlamePalmon's can. Not knowing how to drink this, she takes it down in one gulp. "Mmm Good."

StarRenamon laughs after he took a slug from his. "You're not suppose to drink it in one go Flames."

Her eyes flutter and she gets even more awake from the caffeine and giggles at her friend. "Sorry..."

Davis watched the group as he drank his. He laughed too as he saw what StarRenamon's friend did.

-She does kind-of remind me of Veemon in a way...- But the thought of his friend brought back those disturbing thoughts. Davis took a long, satisfying gulp before looking at the label.

"Contains all natural flavors... Artificial flavors..." He looked over at Izzy racking his brain for an answer in the textbooks and turned the can lazily over to the ingredients. "Sugar... Water... Riboflavin... Sodium Be..." Davis blinked.

"What was that Davis?" Lei asked him as he looked on the label of his can. "I'll be damned if it isn't..." StarRenamon looked at him with a questioned look. Davis sat up slowly on the couch and looked over to Izzy.

"Hey, uh, Izzy?"

"What is it, Davis? This is very important." Izzy replied crossly.

"Uh, what was that chemical we were suppose to find?"

"Sodium Benzoate, why?" Izzy stopped and looked up.

"Well... That's one of the ingredients in this soda." Davis said. Izzy fell silent while Yolei just looked at Davis with surprise.

"You're kidding?" Izzy stood up.

"I see it too..." Lei held up his can, then looked back at it, a smile over his own face. Izzy snatched the can away from Davis and read over the ingredients quickly. He reread them and looked at Davis with a small, excited smile.

"DAVIS, YOU'RE A GENIUS!!" He grabbed him into a tight hug, before dancing around the room repeating the words, "It's in soda! Of COURSE!! Why didn't I see it before??" Yolei and Davis exchanged odd looks before the Digidestined of Knowledge could contain himself again.

"So, now that we know WHAT to stop them with, how do we do it? I mean, how do we have to give it to them?" Yolei asked.

"Good question..." Izzy hummed, still a little out of breath, "My best guess would be consumption of the soda itself."

"Yolei's store has tons of pop!" Davis grinned, "We'll get our friends back in no time!"

"There's an idea..." The blue fox said to himself, FlamePalmon agreeing.

"There's something that I need to tell you guys if you didn't catch it last night..." Izzy said. "I noticed how Kari was acting last night and I now believe that even humans can become infected too."

"WHAT!?" Half the group shouted out.

"Humans also carry electricity inside their body, just not much. Like enough to power up a Nine-Volt Battery." After Izzy explained, everyone started to keep their distance from Davis.

"Then that would mean..." Yolei started to say before moving away from Davis.

"Now come on! If I were on this green stuff, do you think I would know?" Davis stated.

"He has drank soda and nothing happened..." Lei said to Izzy.

"Well, just be careful out there and don't trust the first thing you see aside from what you already know. All right, Davis, Lei and Yolei get down to her store as quickly as possible, I'll stay here to make a few more observations on what we've seen so far as well as try to get in touch with a few of the others, if this hasn't reached them by now." Yolei and Davis nodded before searching Izzy's room for suitable clothes to wear out on the street. Lei leaned over and said to StarRenamon.

"While I'm gone, you'll be the only one able to protect them."

"No he won't, he has me!" FlamePalmon said defiantly. StarRenamon smiled and told him.

"Don't worry, we got it. Just get that soda." They shook hands and then Lei got up, removing his compressed backpack off of his back as he went to the restroom to change into a better outfit. When the door closed, StarRenamon shouted back.

"And don't forget to get us one too!"

Veemon leaned over the kitchen table in the Motimya apartment with a variety of maps spread out across the wooden surface, sunlight flooding the room with it's light from an open window. A serious look was on his face as his eyes ran over small red circles and other symbols written on the maps. The one he was looking at most recently, on top of the others, was one of the city of Tokyo. He hummed in thought and scratched out one of the markings with a red pen, drawing another one similar to it in another section of the city. Just as he finished writing, Matt Ishita entered the kitchen, kneeling beside the chair the blue Digimon was standing on. He popped the cap onto the pen and turned to the kneeling Digidestined with a sigh of frustration.

"What is it, number 4?"

"Numbers 14, 20 and 21 has been acquired, my lord. 9 and 3 are mobilizing to take 13, 16, and 6."

"Excellent." Veemon quirked a smile.

"Err... However, we have reports from number 8 that 5, 12 and 11 have mobilized in the direction of the Inoue drug store."

"Hmm... They're becoming quite a nuisance to us..." Veemon hissed softly, drumming his claws along the table, "I'll deal with them myself."

"You mean...?"

"Yes, number 4, they're more trouble than their worth to bring to our cause. I'm afraid they will have to be terminated. Their behavior would be far too risky to the collective." Veemon tossed the pen on the table and hopped down from the chair, heading to the door. He stopped and turned to Matt.

"Tell 9 and 3, search out number 16, 13 and 7. Leave Number six to me. I'll deal with him myself once I'm finished." Veemon left the room. Matt nodded and rose to organize the mess of maps.

Outside the apartment unknown to Veemon was a dark furred feline, who was listening to their progress.

-Hmmm... So this is what Coren and Sari were talking about. I wonder who they are. Perhaps that Gatomon knows.- She looked down with her bright yellow eyes as she said this and saw Gatomon leaving the apartment, a little slide in her step as her body didn't fully recover yet, but she is now on another mission and was heading out to finish it. DarkTailmon jumped down and landed in a nearby tree. Gatomon heard the noise and jumped to an attack position.

"I guess you would be a little jumpy, wouldn't you Number three? Being molested quite a bit were you earlier today?" A surprised look came over Gatomon's furry face. DarkTailmon jumped down to the ground and presented herself to Gatomon, the black feline's silver tail ring a pale reflection of the white's gold one.

"You're wondering how I know this?" DarkTailmon asked the surprised Gatomon. She walks toward Gatomon. "I know a lot of things, that Veemon is Number one, Matt is Number Four, among others." Thinking this may be a trick of that Number Six, Gatomon tries to pounce on her, claws ready. DarkTailmon let herself be pinned to the ground. Gatomon gave her a sly smile, like she caught a mouse.

"How do you know this?" She asked matter of factly. DarkTailmon smiled back and wrapped her long tail around Gatomon's neck. Gagging, she is held up for a moment before she was slammed to the ground.

"But... " DarkTailmon scratches her chin, ignoring Gatomon's question. "I seem not to know who Six, Sixteen, Thirteen, Seven, Five... " She counted each off with a claw on her glove. Gatomon was sitting up. "Eleven and Twelve are. Could you tell me?" The grin on DarkTailmon's face was full of evil as her eyes flashed momentarily with her own Cat's Eye Hypnosis. Gatomon told her everything she knew about them. After Gatomon finished, DarkTailmon said to her with another flash of her Hypnosis.

"One more thing, I was never here." And jumped off. Gatomon blinked a couple of times and shook her head. Not knowing what happened, except what was relayed to her by Matt, she continued to walk out to the main street, Tai meeting up with her along the way to Izzy's place.

End of Chapter 5


	6. CH6: Reinforcements

Chapter 6: Reinforcements

"Hurry up, Davis, we've got to get the soda before any of our... 'friends' show up." Yolei rushed the goggle-headed teen into her family's convenience store, a silver haired kid following behind in a fresher version of his original clothes. They immediately went for the refrigerated section of the store and picked up liter bottles and six-packs of all the soda they could carry, putting them into shopping bags. Lei had an idea. He didn't know if it would work out right, but it was worth a try.

"Wait a moment..." Lei said retrieving his backpack. "Put some of them in this." Unsure why, they start placing some of the carbo drinks into his backpack, which doesn't bulge from the quantities of it, and what they could carry in the shopping bags so they would have some. Davis and Yolei thought about asking him about the backpack, but time was short.

"Who would have thought soda would be the way to stop this thing...?" Davis almost chuckled as he picked up a few cases of Sprite and placed them into the backpack.

"Well, who would have thought you'd have to save the world." Yolei smirked. The Digidestined of courage rolled his eyes as Lei puts back on his backpack.

"You sure are strong Lei." Yolei remarks.

"This backpack can hold more than it looks. Weight doesn't eff--" The lights blinked and frizzled before they clicked off completely, leaving the three in the dark, "--fect it... Much. "

"Uh-oh..." Davis murmured.

"RUN!!" Yolei screeched, nabbing all the soda she could, dashing for the front door with Davis close behind, Lei following. As they reached for the glass doors, they began to shiver and quake.

"This isn't good..." Lei states. He tries to stop, but slips and falls onto the floor on to his side, a soda pinching his back as he fell onto his backpack. Yolei slid to a stop and caught Davis before the glass itself shattered towards them. Shards cut all through their skin and the shopping bags as they fell to the ground, some of the soda spraying open and dribbling over the floor. Lei's jacket and jeans got a little cut up, but he only got a few minor cuts on his arms, but a shard was implaled into his leg. Davis moaned and plucked a large chunk of glass from his arm before struggling to his feet and helping Yolei up. Lei groaned aloud as he pulled the peice out of his leg, now bleeding a little, but he was able to get back to his feet, taggering a little. As Davis got Yolei to her feet, he heard a cry from outside the store quickly rise in volume, taking him by surprise. "Veemon....?"

"--- HEADBUTT!!" Davis felt the full force of his own Digimon's attack which went him flying, luckily, into an aisle of bath tissues and paper towels. This still shook the teen and momentarily stunned him as the small blue Digimon turned to Yolei. Lei, surprised, was working on his Fireball spell and prepared to attack. His right hand had red particals forming slowly since it was difficult to concentrate with the injury to his leg.

"Get back Yolei!" Yolei, not noticing what Lei had in mind, backed away but Veemon caught her arm and pulled her forward, using his small size to trip her right off her feet painfully onto the glass. He wasted no time in keeping a firm hold on her wrist, wrenching it up her back and making her yelp in pain as the blue Digimon increased the pressure to the humerus and scapula. The Digidestined of Time's eyes shot wide in shock that Veemon would even do such a thing to a friend of his, then narrowed, remembering that this wasn't the same Veemon that he knew. He wanted to attack, the flame ready in his hand, but he would hit Yolei as well as Veemon, so he closed his eyes and did what he didn't want to do. She clawed at the glass and grit her teeth as she tried hard to raise herself from the floor.

"Let me go!!!" Yolei shouts to her captor.

"Insolent little humans... So easy to pick off one by one..." Veemon scoffed aloud, pressing against her arm even hard and making Yolei cry out with pain. Veemon seemed to not even notice Lei's presence at all.

"Hey, blue boy." Veemon glared at the one in front of him. "Forget about someone? Fireball!" He threw the fireball straight for Veemon. He let go of Yolei and dodged the fireball and it went out the window, it's explosion making a small crater outside.

Veemon sneered at Lei. "Missed me."

"Not quite." A deeper voice called, standing to Veemon's right. It was another person that looked like Lei, but with brown hair and glasses. He wore a black color outfit similar to Lei's.

"Dark Beam Blaster!!" Purple beams shot out faster than Veemon could respond and was pummeled with the attack. Veemon crashed into a wall where the main counter was, splintering it as he connected with it. Lei joined next to his counterpart, finished with the attack. Davis was up and helping Yolei up off the floor.

"Damn, how did he get so strong, and why...?" He panted, holding his side and checking on Yolei. He saw Lei doing it for him, and another that resembled him standing a few feet away from them. -Did that blow mess up my vision?-

After helping Yolei, Lei went to the new arrival. "You ok?" The new arrival looked to Lei, who mouthed, 'Pretend you're me'.

He nodded in understanding. "Yeah, I'm fine." Veemon laughed and slowly rose to his feet. He shook himself from the wood as multiple green cuts healed themselves.

"That won't happen twice I promise you _karavis_." He growled, rushing Davis. He crashed Davis into a metallic display case and immediately began pummeling his face rapidly in a flurry of punches. Each hit felt like a sledgehammer attached to a jackhammer, pounding quickly but with incredible force each time. Davis' arms flailed to try and get Veemon off of him, but to now avail as the dragon pinned down his arms. Lei were a little confused why Veemon would go after only the original Digidestined, but him and his copycat ran into the fray, trying to kick Veemon off. Veemon flipped his legs up and countered with a backwards drop kick to their faces and they collided onto the floor, the copycat landing on top of Lei, and vanished when he did. Lei felt a little disoriented, and had a hard time getting up, a side effect of the Duplication Spell.

Yolei fell back among the bags of soda and sat, dazed, on the floor for a moment. Veemon growled as he hopped back onto Davis and pressed his thumbs firmly against Davis' Adam's apple. He choked and strained up harder against the blue dragon, making small gurgling noises as his eyes widened. Yolei tried a last ditch effort in throwing a can of nearby soda at the back of Veemon's head. It made contact! But it did little to detour Veemon other than him stopping to give her a sharp glare and receiving a face-full of pop. He blinked at the substance spraying his face and licked his lips. Veemon instantaneously cringed and twitched, releasing Davis' neck and clutching his own with harsh coughing.

"_Pa rin... lacia.._." Veemon muttered as he tried to cough the soda out of his mouth. Davis took the moment to bring his legs up and kick Veemon off into the refrigerated sodas, bursting most of them open. Lei shook his head and his vision cleared when he saw Veemon land in the soda area. Grinning from the reaction he had, Lei got up and ran up to the blue dragon, grabbed and shook two of the cans that fell from it and opened them, spraying him in the face, body, everywhere.

"Drink up!" Lei said. "You look a little thirsty." As the flavored sugar-water drowned Veemon, he kicked and spasmed against the assault. Yolei helped the coughing Davis up as they watched the Digimon burst from the soda in a fit of rage, his eyes blood red with his mouth foaming thick with froth, knocking Lei into the snacks area. Lei looked around and saw through pained eyes that he had hit something metal. He sees a candy bar to his right.

-I could use a snack...- He grabs a chocolate bar and eats it quickly, feeling his magic strength return from the chocolate boost. -Whoa, that's interesting... Better get more for later.- He puts a good amount of snacks in his backpack for later.

Veemon crawled from the aluminum cylinders with great difficulty as if his body was fighting with itself. He choked and let out what only could be described as a gurgling, indigious screech before arching his back to the ceiling. His eyes clenched shut as he shot vomit from his mouth. Lei gets up and walks to Davis and Yolei, and to see the effect a little better.

"You guys alright?" Lei asks them. They both nod slowly as all three watches what is happening to Veemon. The dark greenish goo spewed onto the ground in one large retch before wavering and falling to the side, unconscious. The green goo sputtered and twitched before falling limp and turning a deep blue color. Lei and Yolei were frozen with surprise as they looked at the sight, taking in what they just witness.

"Veemon!!!!" The goggle-donning teen ran without a second thought to his fallen partner, cradling him in his arms, "Vee! Are you all right? Wake up!" He shook him slightly, but got no reaction other than soft moans from the dragon.

"We've got to get back to Izzy's." Yolei groaned from the injuries as she gathering up the undamaged soda and placing it into new shopping bags. Lei took a yellow ribbion out of his backpack's side pocket. Looking at it for a second, he was reminded of his mission that he was originally given. He uses the wide ribbion to bind up the wound until he could get back home. Davis nodded and lifted himself up, wincing at the pain in his cut arm from the action and goes over to grab a few bags but keep Veemon in his arms at the same time.

"I'll take those for you, you're too badly hurt to carry it all." Lei said to Davis as he took the soda bags away from him and puts it in his backpack. Davis doesn't even respond to this , but uses the free arm to carry Veemon better. They start to leave, the half-destroyed store behind them. Before Lei left, he took a glass jar of jawbreakers, emptied out the contents and bent down. Lei uses the lid to gather up the blue goo.

"My mom is going to have a it when she sees this tomorrow..." Yolei said sadly, looking oer the damage one last time.

"Something for Izzy to look at." Lei scooped it up into the jar and sealed it. Looking into it, he sees a small, thin tendril on the side of it. -Hmm, I may need to tell Jacob about this too...- Then he followed, putting it inside a hidden pouch in the backpack. He looked over to Yolei. "Don't worry, at least you know it wasn't your fault." Yolei didn't respond back as she walked next to Davis, looking over to Veemon, worried about the two, since Davis' arm was still cut.

* * *

As they left, they didn't see a figure of a seventeen-year-old girl in a tree overlooking the store, her black hair and the skirt of her fighter's suit flowing softly with the wind. The light from the lamppost reflecting lightly off of her headband which had a metal plate on it with a diamond engraved on it. She looks down at the fleeing group, not knowing what to make of them. A purple haired girl with glasses, a spiked brown hair boy, and with him a Digimon that he was carrying. She watched them go before noticing a third human, this one with silver-like hair and a blackish blue outfit. Her mind filled with anger as she looked apon him.

"Lei...." She said silently, her voice turned to an evil tone. She touched the blade her favorite weapon, her six-foot length by one-foot width Neck-Cleaving Knife. With a smile, she lowered her hand. -Revenge is near... what you did to us.- She frowned. -But now is not the time...- She shook her head as another thought came to her. -No. I must answer my callings." Leaping from the tree, she disappeared into the night, not leaving a trace behind as she goes on her way, jumping from terance to terance of the other buildings..

* * *

They left the shambled grocery store and up the street back to Izzy's apartment as fast as they could, Lei following behind, Davis not being able to keep back his tears as he looked at Veemon lying limply in his arms, his left arm slowly dripping with his own blood, but no one had noticed yet, not even Davis. Lei stopped for a moment, hearing something strange in the air. He looked around, but didn't see anything, but heard some leaves rustling from a nearby tree or bush.

-It might have been a stray dog or something... but I could've sworn... no.- Lei shook his head -They can't be out here, they don't exist in this time.- He turned and ran to catch up to the others. -But then again, I better mention this to Marin later. She may know something about this...- Yolei and Davis had stopped after a few blocks to check on their friend now that they were far enough away. Lei turned to check on Veemon as well, setting the soda aside for the moment.

"Is he... He's not...?" She swallowed hard. Davis shook his head and smiled at her, wiping his eyes with his right hand. Lei stopped and looked around, then observed Veemon.

"He's fine, I think... He's breathing and everything, he's just... Drained, I guess." He sighed with relief and gave his unconscious partner a tight hug.

"That's great..." Yolei smiled as well, "Maybe he can help Izzy with what happened as well." Davis nodded quickly but she was sure he didn't hear her.

"Along with what was left back there." Yolei looked at Lei as he took out the jar, reveling the blue goop for a second then returning it to his pouch.

"Are you sure it's wise to take that? What if it comes back to life? " Yolei asked, looking a bit uneasy.

"From what Izzy said, it shouldn't. Besides, what could go wrong at this point?" Lei said with a shrug. They had one of their friends back and they could worry about saving the world a little later. With that, she picked up the bags again and, with Davis, Veemon and Lei following behind, sprinted all the way back to Izzy's.

* * *

Along the way, Yolei spoke to Lei. "I saw you get those snacks."

Lei stopped. "You did?" Davis stopped as well as Yolei who was looking at Lei with a smile.

"Don't worry, you can have them this time, from the way the store looks now I wouldn't be surprised if a few things did turn up missing." She siad with a little worry in her voice.

A startled Lei replied. "Thanks." Davis looked at the two, then shook his head and laughed to himself.

"By the way, who was that other person? He looked just like you." Then they continued on to Izzy's house.

"That's my... friend. His name is Paul." They left it at that for now. Lei was still a little nervous about explaining how some of his spells work, since his Duplication Spell requires a small sacrifice to use...

* * *

When they arrived, Lei looked around the area. Something seemed to be off a little. "Something's wrong." He said, looking concerned. Yolei stumbled with the knob as they arrived, still nervous that one of the others had seen them, but managed to push inside along with Davis and Lei. She grabbed her soda that she had set down, pulled it inside, slamming the door and locking it as she gave a long sigh. Lei looked around and didn't like what he saw. Davis sat against the wall clutching Veemon tightly as he looked around the apartment.

"Y... Yolei?" He said, blinking.

"Wha-" Yolei was about to ask but she didn't even notice the damage at first. She gasped as she turned around. Izzy's apartment was like a disaster area. Furniture ripped apart, holes in the walls, scorched chairs and rubble from the ceiling on the floor. More or worse than the store they just left. Lei reached into his backpack and pulled out two revolver-looking weapons.

"Hope these work..." Yolei and Davis looked at Lei questionably. "What? It's just soda." He aimed at the wall and pulled the trigger. Dark liquid came out. "I get thirsty too, but I didn't think I had to use these like real guns..." Lei tossed one to Yolei. He would've given his other to Davis, but he was dealing with Veemon at the moment. They went on ahead, searching the rooms. Yolei looked around then gasped again before running through the apartment, frantically searching for something. Lei emerged from Izzy's room just before Yolei was about to go in there. He was holding an orange object.

"There's no one here... and StarRenamon may be in more trouble than I had thought." Davis laid Veemon aside on a ripped pillow and got up, and looked at Lei.

"What did you find?" Lei raised his hand with the object, showing Davis the armor-clothes that his digimon always wore.

"He never takes off his armor except to sleep and bathe. I'm also worried about FlamePalmon." Yolei went past Lei and into the kitchen. Davis followed her. His path was blocked, however, when Yolei stumbled back into the living room looking pale.

"Izzy's gone too..."

* * *

The two Digidestined searched through Izzy's house for any clue to what happened, while Davis tended to Veemon. Yolei was in Izzy's room, while Lei was at what remained of Izzy's computer in his computer room.

"Looks like these things don't know much about computers..." Lei said as he examined the main console, which was intact, so any information on it wasn't lost. The screen was shattered and would never work again, along with other accessories. The disk that Izzy had used to identify the slime was inside the disk drive of the computer console, which protected it. A light mint scent came to Lei. He rose his head, sniffing the air. Lei puts the computer back down and searches the cabinets underneath. When he opened the first one, he saw a green hand with a dark greenish substance on it.

"Palmon?" He reaches for the hand and slowly grasps it. When he did, it twitches.

"HOLY HELL!!! Damn..." He let go of the hand and pulled his back. The hand that grabbed the other went past his face with that mint scent. He sniffs the green liquid on his hand, finding it the source of the scent. Finding a nearby rag, Lei wipes off the liquid. He opens the other cabinet and finds the rest of her, cramped into the small cabinet with more accessories for computers. The edges of those pieces scratched her skin and made her bleed.

"So much for protection..." Lei said to himself. She groaned softly.

"Palmon!? You're alive?" She opened her left eye a little and looked at him. Lei took an item called a Core Medicine out of the left side of the backpack and had her drink it. The Core Medicine didn't recover her strength just yet, but it helped in keeping her form a little more stable so that she would stay alive.

"What happened?" Lei asked her. Palmon tried to speak, but could only get out a moan of pain as she tried to move. Lei looked around her and moved some of the parts out of the way so that she wouldn't be hurt by them. Seeing another bundle of rags, he rolls them together to make a pillow and places it under Palmon's head, careful not to hurt her any worse than she is already.

"Stay in here until I return. Ok?" She gave a small nod, closed her eye and went to sleep. He puts back the Core Medicine. -If she hasn't dissolved yet, then she'll be ok for a while.- .

-Lei!- Lei jumped at the sound.

"Wha---" He looked around, seeing a trashed room, but no one besides Palmon was in it.

-Lei can you hear me!- Lei narrowed his eye and thought back.

-Tone it down a bit will you!?!-

-Sorry, Jacob sent his newest invention to your house. It may help you out.-

-Thanks Marin... Hey.- Lei thought out to her.

-Yes?- Marin responded.

-... Can Sari and Janis be in this area?- Lei asked as he was watching Palmon for a moment as she was sleeping. The Core Medicine seemed to be working well as her injuries were healing rapidly.

-I don't know for sure.- Was all she said, then silence. Lei closed the doors to the computer desk and all was silent. Lei didn't quite understand. Usually Marin is straight with him on a lot of things, but se sounded a little uncertain when he asked her about Sari and Janis. He got up and walked out of the room. Davis saw him and asked what startled him.

"Found Palmon. She's hurt, but I helped fix her up a little. Let's let her rest for now." Lei replied as he met Yolei in Izzy's room. He had noticed that Davis bandaged his cut arm with a torn shirt. Yolei saw him as she got up from where there were some drawers intact at one time.

"Nothing!" She slammed what she had back onto the pile, frustrated.

"We're not going to find---" Lei stopped in mid sentence, noticing something in the room. He walks over to the closet. "Did you check here yet?" She shook her head. Lei slowly put his hand on the doorknob and quickly opening it. Lots of stuff fell out along with a blue fox.

"StarRenamon!?" The Digidestined of Time got the junk off him and pulled the unconscious digimon out, cuts covering him from head to legs and his star on his head was cracked a little. His gloves were full of tears and holes, as if done by claws.

"Yolei... Help me." She ran to him and got under StarRenamon's left arm, Lei on his right and lifted him to the living room, where Veemon was standing now, talking to Davis with a hand over his blue ear. Davis looked away for a moment and saw Lei and Yolei carrying StarRenamon. They carried him to Davis and Lei said to him as he had him get on his side.

"We're not safe here. I think we may be better off at my place, no one knows where it is except StarRenamon and a few others." Davis nodded, while a confused Veemon stared at the two.

Yolei asks Lei, "What about Palmon, we just can't leave her here." A sickening look came over Lei's face.

"She's... not able to come with us right now. I found her in the computer… room..." Before he could finish, she moved the unconscious fox's weight to Davis and ran to the computer room. While she was looking, Lei took what sodas were left and dumped them into his backpack, then slung it back over his back.

"Uh... Davis? Who is this?" Veemon asked. He had met StarRenamon in the past, but his memory was a little fuzzy due to the bad experience that he went through.

"StarRenamon, my partner. See that orange, metal thing on the couch?" Veemon looked around and saw it. "Get it and let's get going."

"Poor girl, " Yolei said to herself as she met up with them. "She doesn't have the strength to move..." She takes StarRenamon's arm around her neck, taking some of the weight off. Lei had a thought come to him.

"Has anyone seen FlamePalmon?" The two shook their heads as Veemon asks.

"Who's FlamePalmon?"

"Damn...Well...I'll tell you later, but we do need to go. Those that came may return." The dragon Digimon gets StarRenamon's Armor and follows the rest out the door. Veemon had a little trouble carrying it from the weight of it, but managed to do it.

* * *

Lei leads them to a forest a few miles away from Izzy's house, looking around along the way. He waves his free hand and the underbrush parts for them. They go down the path and a few minuets later, they see a run down house, boards hanging limply in some areas, some poorly made patches reveling holes, among other things. This looked more like a condemned house than a hideout.

"Lei, you sure this place is safe?" Davis asks him. Lei only smiles and leads them in, avoiding the holes on the stairs. The others proceed in the same way. When they were all in, Lei closed the door, turned on a lamp and went upstairs.

"Set him on the sofa." Lei said to the surprised Digidestined as he went. Although the outside looked unstable, the inside looked like any other house. A couch in front of a TV in the middle of the room with a long table between them, three doors, one that appeared to lead to the kitchen, one to a restroom and one that lead to the back of the house. A set of stairs next to the door lead to the second floor of the place. They set StarRenamon down onto the sofa as Lei brought down some folding chairs for them, also one for Veemon. Lei passed them out. They sat down and rested for a while before Lei said to Veemon, "Veemon, do you remember anything of what happened while that creature was inside of you?"

Veemon thought for a moment. "Not too much... Just that it was looking for something called 'hosts'... and something about not one person alive will have direct connection to me... and some strange noises..." The blue dragon digimon was quiet for a time. "That's it. I can't remember anymore."

-Hmmm…- Lei thought about what he said. -Izzy said it does takes control, so the host is somewhat aware while it's in control.. That thing I thought I saw on Gatomon looked like a snake. That white thing must have not been an illusion. It must also effect memory because Veemon didn't remember me or StarRenamon at first. But one thing is for certain…-

Davis stood up. "We do have something to fight it with now." Davis looked at Lei and he nodded to him.

"And a weapon to use it with." Lei said as he went back upstairs. Davis glanced over to Yolei.

"Weapon...?" She shrugged. Lei came down with three big super soakers, one under his left arm, two on his right. The three got wide-eyed at the blasters. They were as thick as trees. From the way Lei was holding them, they weren't heavy.

"I found one at a construction site a couple of days ago. Hope the original owners don't mind, but I had a friend modified them to be similar to my backpack and send a few back here." He handed one to Yolei, who smiled, then one to Veemon and Davis, who looked confused.

"Why are we using Super Soakers to fight?" Veemon asks.

"I was just about to ask the same thing. " Davis said.

"Soda is our best weapon against this infection. Why not add some style to it?" Lei dumped out his backpack of the sodas inside. "Fill the blasters with the soda and take some for reserve, like grenades. The only thing you have to worry about is when you run out. When you do..."

"What about you? Aren't you going to use one?" Yolei asked.

"No, I have my own weapons." He pointed at his back where a pommel was sticking out from, but he was actually pointing to the two smaller squirt guns in the same side of his backpack. No one had ever noticed that pommel until now. Davis was about to say something, but Lei beat him to it. "How bout something to eat? I'm sure you must be hungry. Davis and Yolei, take what you want from the kitchen. Veemon, I'll need you here with me, guarding StarRenamon... and I'll fill you in to what's happing to this point." Davis and Yolei nervously went to the kitchen. Lei removed his backpack, a scabbard attached to the inside of it, took a few of the snacks out of his backpack, and puts it back on. He hands Veemon three of the five he took out and looked at Veemon. "Well, I guess you would want to know what's going on..."

* * *

"Grrrraaahh!! How can that happen!" A girl slaps Gatomon down to the floor. "How could our leader be captured!!!!" Gatomon looked up at the new leader, trying to explain what happened. Matt, Kari, Tai, Tentomon, Agumon, Gabumon, T.K., Patamon, Hawkmon and Mimi were in the room with Gatomon as well as someone that was in a shadowed part of the room near the group. Mimi was still in her shredded clothes as was Kari, howing a bit more skin than they would normally allow, but they weren't themselves at the moment. Matt or T.K. didn't try to sneak any peeks on Kari, nor did Tai on Mimi. Patamon and Hawkmon didn't even flinch, but they were more worried what this girl was going to do to them after she was finished with Gatomon.

"I.. I don't know. It--" WHAM! Another slap that dwarfed the previous one, leaving a handprint showing on Gatomon's white fur. Her head snapped back from the force. Since Gatomon returned from the store that Veemon went to destroy the unworthy ones, and finding traces of the dark blue slime on the floor near the soda area, all she received in return was a severe beating, as if she was the one who did it.

"No excuses." The girl said coldly. "Now..." She turned to the others. "Where were the three you were suppose to get with Number 6?" Tai lowered his head. Gatomon gave her the only answer there was.

"Only that blue fox was there... and that red plant... We tried to get them to tell us where the other one was but they wouldn't-- gah!" She grabbed Gatomon by the neck and held her out for the others to see her beaten body.

"Not acceptable... But at least you managed to infect Number Seven, that still doesn't let you off. The rest of you! If you fail your punishment will be much worse than this." The new 'leader' threw the worn cat to the group and fallen to the floor, rolling to them.

"Search out and eliminate Numbers 5, 6, 11, 12, 13, and 16!" The group turned to leave. "Number Seven. Come with me." Number Seven turned around, her maroon leaves falling over her eyes a little. She uses a vine to move them aside as the plant Digimon followed her into the next room and closed the door. Jun stood near the window, while Number Seven stood in the shadows.

"Number One can still be recovered. It has come to me that you know where they took Number One correct."

"Yes Master, this host knows their location." FlamePalmon said, with a grin as she stepped into the moonlight, the light giving her red skin an eerie glow. "And I'll be glad to tell you." She added happily, a faint glow to her eyes.

* * *

In a tree not far from the building, a red bird was sitting there, watching and hearing the events unfold inside. With a squawk, and a flap of her red and green wings she took off into the night.

* * *

"...After I blasted you with that soda. you convulsed and coughed up this blue goo." Lei took out the jawbreaker jar that he used to gather up what remained of the viral slime and held it in his left hand. When he took it out, he stopped. The once blue had turned green again, and what was inside was moving slowly. "Uh-oh. Not good... Davis! Yolei!"

Veemon staggered back. "It...I.I.I.'s alive?" The frightened blue dragon stammered. The two Lei called raced from the kitchen. The green slime inside starts to vibrate.

"Wha--" Yolei saw the jar.

"Oh shit. Not again!" Davis cursed. The jar explodes, cutting Lei's hand with the shards, the slime falling to the floor. Shouting a small swear, he pulled up his smaller squirt gun that he had earlier with his left hand and tried to take aim at it. Veemon was already gone, left for the kitchen with Davis, who followed after him. Yolei brought up her blaster when a small snake shot up to the sleeping form of StarRenamon. Lei moved his right hand over the sleeping fox and quickly said "Barrier!" and a green light covered StarRenamon before it could reach him and bounced off. Yolei soaked it in soda when it landed. When she stopped, all that was there was soda, as if the soda dissolved it.

"Was that thing the real--" Then she noticed Lei doubled over, groaning. A new wave of pain shot through his arm when he used his barrier magic. Lei looked at his hand and saw why. A piece of glass was inside the palm of his right hand.

"Yolei... Bathroom... second door..." He pointed upstairs. "...under the sink..." He fell to his knees and grabbed the shard. Yolei raced upstairs and quickly found a roll of gauze. "First my leg... now my hand... AAAARRRRRRRGGHH!!!" Lei's scream filled the house as she ran back down. She saw that he had pulled it out and handed him the gauze roll. The injured Digidestined of Time doesn't notice. He just sits there, panting and murmuring, as that purple glow on his chest starts. Davis pokes his head out of the kitchen door.

"Yolei? Can you come in here?" She walks into the kitchen, Veemon next to Davis. "What happened?"

"I'm not really sure. That... slime revived somehow and a snake shot from it to StarRenamon. Lei did something to repel it and I blasted it," Yolei lifted her blaster for a second before lowering it. "But when Lei protected his digimon, he hurt his hand worse where the glass jar cut it I think."

Veemon smiled. "So it's really gone?"

Yolei shrugged. "I guess so, there wasn't any of it remaining." They looked into the living room. Lei was sitting on a recliner, panting, his crest giving off a purple light. They decided that the coast was clear and went back into the room. Lei's head was down as he was still murmuring something, the purple glow gone. Yolei glanced at his hand and noticed he hadn't used the roll yet, but was almost healed. He stopped when he noticed her and put on the wrappings.

"Well, good job Yolei. Now we do know how to destroy them completly. I won't be able to draw for a little while now..."

Davis asked, "How do we what?"

"What Izzy didn't understand." Lei finished applying the wrappings. He took a glove from his backpack and slipped it on to protect the wound. "It's parasitic like he said in his last report of it, but the slime just extends it's control over the host and acts like a regenerating shield. Soda is the key to this, but he didn't know how to use it, but then again, neither did we until now. They have to be sprayed directly, to remove the slime and destroy the creature that it causing it." Yolei and Davis sit back down on the other sofa, Veemon sat with StarRenamon on the one across from them.

"So it was that snake I doused that is causing everything to happen?" Yolei asks.

Lei nodded. "Yeah... although, I don't really know what to make of it myself. I've seen glimpses of them, but nothing to help us with."

"What's with the sword?" Davis asked, out of the blue.

Lei looked over to Davis. "My defense." He took it out of it's scabbard and shown them the blade. The sword blade was silver with a red pommel and a purple crystal between them. A click from the sword and they split in two. Lei grimaced a little when he grasped one with his right hand. He rubbed them together, making a swiping sound, then puts them back together and back into the scabbard. "Don't worry Yolei, it's not for the digimon. This is a favorite sword of mine. " Lei replies when he saw a worried look on her face.

"So, when's the rescue mission?" Davis asked. Lei looked in his direction.

"We're waiting for three more." Yolei, Davis and Veemon exchanged glances. Lei turned to the door. "Wish they'd hurry though."

"Who to hurry?" Davis picked up one of the cans of pop that weren't used for the blasters, opened it, and took a sip from it. Veemon took one too, opened it, but like always, swallows half of it in one go. Lei didn't reply as they waited.

* * *

Outside, four figures stood together, a tall one, one a little smaller than the tall one , another almost the same height, and another about a foot shorter, with a piece of paper.

"The directions said ten steps away from the light of the lamppost, and wave a hand to the bushes... sounds like a lot of nonsense to me."

"Well, if you don't try..." The third boy said.

"Ok. Ok." The tall one waves his hand over the bush wall. Nothing happened.

"See. What did--"

"Wait a minuet." The small yellow one said. "Somethin's happening." The bush that he waved at parted for them to pass. "... Well, let's continue. And hope that this letter is true to the source." The second boy replied. They found a path and followed it, the panel closing behind them. Across the road from the hidden entrance, a dark, small, dragon-like silhouette was standing there. He had decided to follow this group of people and it seemed that it was worth it. Silently, he disappeared into the night. The small party looked back, now knowing that there was no way back but to continue since the opening closed. They follow the path to a dark, run down house.

"Now I know this isn't a real letter. Look where it lead us to!" The tall teen companied.

"These steps are walkable, " Said the third kid. " but avoid the holes." They do so and they reached the door. Knocking on it three times, they stand and wait, glancing at the dark windows.

"This place gives me the creeps..." The yellow one comments.

"Well, now all we have to do is wait--- " The doorknob moved, causing everyone to jump.

* * *

There was a knock on the door. "About time..." Lei sighed as he got up, making sure he didn't put too much pressure on his slightly-injured hand and leg. He went to the door, the trio behind him. Before he grasps the doorknob, he says to it.

"Unlock..." A white-purplish glow came over the knob. Davis, Yolei and Veemon watched in amazement.

Veemon thought to himself. -Haven't I seen that before?- He tried to remember where, but couldn't. The light faded and Lei opened the door, the light from the lamp reveling four figures.

"Glad you could make it. Come on in." The slowly came in, a tall boy with glasses, white shirt and blue pants, a smaller boy with brown hair and a beige shirt that fell to his knees and a digimon with yellow plates on his back.

"Joe, Cody, Armadillomon. This is a surprise." Yolei said to them. Who was behind them surprised them even more.

"Izzy!? You escaped?" Davis said to the frazzled Digidestined of Knowledge. His shirt was torn some and his hair was a bit misplaced.

"Yeah. While you were gone, I kept lookout at the window and saw Tai and Gatomon were coming toward my place. StarRenamon told us to get out and... well, Palmon ran into the computer room, don't know what became of her, while I went to the back door."

Lei closed the door and turned to Izzy. "We found StarRenamon in your closet, but how did he get out of his armor?" Joe, Cody and Armadillomon went to talk with Davis, Yolei and Veemon, the latter filling in the new arrivals on what's going on. Izzy looked at StarRenamon's armbands.

"I guess Gatomon was trying making a move on him, and somehow undid his armor. I feel sorry that I had to leave him, but if they had me... well, you guys would be in trouble." A dark expression came over Lei's face. He walked to Izzy, completely forgetting about the three he had sent for.

"Gatomon was left alone... with this infection... with StarRenamon?" He asked slowly, hoping that it wasn't true.

"I'm sorry. He might-- Hey!" He pushed Izzy out of the way and to StarRenamon, who was waking up. Izzy, leaving the two alone, joined Davis and the others. Lei slowly shook the sleeping digimon, purple eye opened and fixed it on Lei.

"Uhh... What a night." StarRenamon groaned.

"StarRenamon, listen to me. What happened?" StarRenamon looked around and saw he was back at Lei's house.

"Uhh. my head hurts... I spotted Gatomon and Tai coming down the road. I told Palmon to follow Izzy out the back, but she panicked and went back to the computer room. I did fight Gatomon and FlamePalmon battled Tai long enough for Izzy to get out. Guess it was worth it. Gatomon was the one who did this, or rather, the thing controlling her. Tai had overpowered FlamePalmon and..." A tear fell from his eye. Lei lowered his head in realization. "He dragged her off into the kitchen. I haven't seen her after that. " StarRenamon was crying a little, worried or his plant girl. "Gatomon almost had me if I didn't use Image Render. I stayed in the closet after that." Lei stood up and handed StarRenamon back his torso armor.

"Here's your armor back, you will need it." A smile came over the blue fox's face as he sat up to put it on, but Lei could tell that he was still upset. Joe walked up to Lei.

"Were you the one who sent that letter with the parrot to me?" Lei stood up and turned to him.

"Yeah that was me. Did Izzy and Davis fill you and the others in on what's going on?"

Joe nodded. "Yeah, they did." Lei went back upstairs and got a few more of the huge liquid blasters and brought them back down.

"FlamePalmon..." StarRenamon said. He was crying softly. "I failed."

Lei went to Joe. "Are these legal?" Joe was a little nervous as he took the one Lei offered him.

"They are to save the world. I found one of them in an empty lot, had a friend redo them so they are lightweight and can shoot up to one hundred shots before it needs to be reloaded." He made sure everyone heard this. He handed one to Cody and Armadillomon. "They work the same as any water blaster or gun, aim and pull the trigger, only this time, they shoot soda. Don't say it Joe, it's the only effective thing against this disease thing." Lei took one more blaster, his last one, and gave it to Izzy. "Yolei proved a point earlier tonight when I was going to bring what was left of 'Number one' to Izzy for study, but it came back to life. The one controlling the host is actually a small snake that gives off a slime to extend it's reach. When you get the infected person to consume the soda, or drenched in it, the 'green goo', the only name I know to call it, will leave it and turn blue, making the snake defenseless. Izzy's assumption with the soda proved useful." Izzy smiled with pride. "When it is blue that's when you are to drown it because it is weakened when it is blue. Once the snake itself is drowned, it will dissolve and be no more." Silence filled the room when he finished.

Izzy decided to break it. "That's a better analysis than I could give."

Lei shrugged. "That's how it happened. And you need to fill them up with those." Lei pointed to the area of the room that had all the sodas and cases.

Lei went to StarRenamon. "StarRenamon, I'll need your help Paraspelling every victim so we can get a sure target." Wiping his eyes, he nodded. "Ok. Now that everyone knows what to do, let's get some rest for a couple of hours so--."

A squawk was heard from upstairs as a red and green bird flew into the living room. Everyone ducked to avoid it.

"Whazzat?" Armadillomon shouted, bringing up his blaster when the bird landed on Lei's arm. The only ones who wasn't spooked were Joe, Cody and Lei. He held the bird close and scratched it's head.

"This is Rosa, my messenger parrot." The bird squawked and made a few sounds to Lei. She had red feathers with a splash of green on the back of her neck. Her wings were red too, but with blue and green at the tips. Rosa was almost three feet long, head to tail, one and a half to the feet, and one heck of a beak, curved to a point on the top and flat-tipped on the bottom, three inches from top to bottom.

"Ok, I know you're hungry, I'll get you some food." He looks to the others. "I'll be back, she needs her fresh food and water. Make yourselves comfortable." Lei went upstairs. Davis looked around to the others as they started to fill their blasters.

"Has anyone ever seen a bird like that before?"

"Macaw actually, in the Green-wing family." Izzy spoke up. "The last-known area I had knew them to be in in a Bird-Refuge in America called Feathered Friends Forever. "

"Feathered Friends! That's it!" Yolei exclaimed out loud a smile on her face. Everyone stopped at her voice.

"What's it?" Cody asked. Yolei lowered her voice.

"There had been something about Lei that I have been trying to figure out... and I think I have." Everyone looked at Yolei with confusion. "I've heard about that refuge for parrots. Izzy, do you remember the name of who was there, anything."

Izzy thought for a moment. "Hmmm. There was a kid who worked there at one point but I don't know his name, he was their caretaker for the parrots I think."

Davis started to see what this was going to. "Isn't that one who feeds and cleans... A caretaker?"

"Yes, Davis." Izzy said.

"No, that can't be true..." Cody spoke up. "Because if you're right, he died in a car explosion a few months ago. Right Joe?"

Joe nodded. "Yeah, we heard that on the radio. Poor kid. His name was Paul if I heard right. " Yolei sighed and stared to walk around.

"O.k. So did he have glasses with brown hair? I saw someone with Lei that looked like that earlier while we were getting the sodas." Izzy thought for a moment, trying to remember the image that he saw.

"Yeah, that's what he looked like. Well, the reason we were there was... " Joe began to tell of his assistance in America, his real reason for being there.

Yolei sighed again. "I guess I better go see if Lei is ready then." Yolei said as she headed upstairs.

End of Chapter 6

Side note: Feathered Friends Forever is a real parrot rescue with a lot of beautiful birds there. To learn more, go to featheredfriendsforever . org for more info about them.


	7. CH7: Friends of the Past

Chapter 7: Lost Friends of the Past

Lei took his parrot, Rosa, to his room and set her on her perch next to the window across from the door. Getting a cup from a nearby food bag full of various seeds and dried fruits, he puts some in her food bowl. Lei sighs as he watches her eat for a moment, thinking about the events at hand.

"There's got to be a better way of finding that theif that stole the Orb." He looked over to next to his computer on it's table where two stands were, one was holding a clear, purple-looking prism and the other looked like it could hold a small basketball. A voice sounded in his head, telling him not to worry and that he would find him or her. He took off his backpack and set it down onto the bed.

"Well... Mabey we will, but are you certain that this person is in this reality?" Yes..., The voice responded. This infection going around seems to be a possible link to the theif. Especially since it uses emotions as it's fuel.

Lei had a thought. "How did you know about this?" Rosa finished eating, then jumped to the floor from her perch, flapping to soften the landing. Looking up at Lei, she began to change. Her body growing, little nubs appearing on the sides, expanding into arms with three-taloned hands. Her feathers seem to disappear except on her wings, which grew along with the rest of her body, changing into metal. Clothes seemed to appear on her body, her breasts growing to her normal b-cup size. Her legs growing a couple of feet before stopping with her bird talon feet spread open, balancing herself as her tail feathers expanded three times their width, small symbols appearing on the tips of them. Before Lei stood the Digidestined of Illusion, Marin.

"You knew I was also keeping an eye out on what's happening, right?" She asked with a sly grin.

Lei chuckled a little. "Of course Marin. So, you have been keeping tabs on me as well?"

"I didn't have to." Marin walked away from the window, her metal wings making a faint chime as they slightly touched each other. She took out a wing-shaped devise similar to Lei's. "Your Starvise did that for me. But that wasn't the real reason I came back after delivering that message." Marin turned to face him, munching a little on the peanuts and dried fruit from the seed mix.

"You do remember what happened, right?" She asked him. "You can't let anyone know you're not from this world, even though you've shown off more than what I would of our abilities..." She added, a concerned tone to her voice.

Lei nodded. "Yes." He said, sounding a bit distant. "I know."

"Something wrong?" Marin asked, walking towards Lei.

"Why were you hesitant about when I mentioned Sari and Janis earlier." Lei asked her, curious and confused.

Marin stood a few feet away from him. "Why?" Lei walked to his nightstand. He opened the drawer and pulled out a picture of him, younger and wearing light armor, with a yellow-haired girl wearing a Star Headband and another a couple of inches shorter having a curved black-haired ponytail hairstyle both wearing a school uniform from his time, smiling together. It looked similar to a traditional japanese school uniform, but it looked more regal. "You know they couldn't hae survived the destruction of that lab, back in your time. We never did find them there to know for sure though...

"I'm not sure. I could've sworn I heard Janis' voice tonight, but Sari... I don't know if she had lived either after that catastrophy." Lei was thinking to years ago, when he was just a Royal Guard in his time where knights were already becoming obsolete with the rise of technology, protecting important people on their travels, and also of earlier that night, when they were escaping from the store with the sodas.

"I understand what you may be going through, but you need to hear me out. It has to do with your partner's friend, FlamePalmon." Lei's head shot up when she said that and looked at her.

"FlamePalmon!?" Lei had completly forgot about her for an instant. A knock came from the bedroom door.

"Lei. You ready yet?" It was Yolei. They both looked to the door. Marin scowled for a sec. She knew she didn't have much time left so she told her findings quickly and silently.

"FlamePalmon told the new leader about this place. I don't know how she could've known, but..." She started to change back to her parrot form.

-They will be heading this way soon. My job is done here. You should be able to do fine now. I'll be at Jacub's Hut if you need me again. Farewell, Digidetined of Time.- Rosa took flight to the room's open window and flew into the night. Lei watched her go.

-I hope you're right Marin, that I can do this.-

"Are you ok Lei?" Yolei called through the door. Lei went to the door. He opened it slightly to see Yolei.

"Yeah, I'm fine. Everyone else ready?" Yolei tried to get a glance into the room because she thought she heard someone else in there, but only saw his computer on his desk next to his bed when he opened the door.

"Just about. I came to see if you were. I thought I heard someone in there."

"Don't worry about it. I just sent another message out to... my friend, thanking him for what he did and to watch Rosa for me, since I probably won't have anymore time to watch her at the moment." Lei told her with a smile.

"Oh... Ok, well the rest of us are waiting downstairs, ready when you are." Yolei told him.

"Ok, I'll be down in a moment." Lei said as he went back into his room. Yolei, her curiosity nagging her, starts back to the main room, where the others were finishing up their filling.

"Close one kid." Lei said to himself lowly after he closed the door. "One little thing left to do." He took what food that was left in the bird's bowl and puts it in another bag next to the one with the fresh food. Lei went to his bed, where his backpack still lies, and opened the pocket with his Starvise and cards are at. He had been working on a new type of upgrade feature that he ment to tell Jacub about before trying it out, but it seems like the test run was inevitable. Taking a Machine Card with a backpack picture out, he calls out, "Gatlin Pack Activate!"

* * *

Downstairs, Joe finished filling his gun, along with the others. Yolei just came from upstairs.

"Is Lei ready?" Davis asks her as she came down.

"Almost. He said he would be down in a moment." Yolei said. She choose not to talk about what she heard upstairs.

"We're ready when he is then." Cody spoke up. Yolei went to Davis on the smaller sofa, Davis helping her with her blaster.

Armadillomon was with Veemon, talking near the kitchen door. "So Gatomon's gone bad or somethin'?"

Veemon nodded, a hint of sadness in his face features. "Yeah, from what I was told, and expirenced, this slime/snake is what is the source of it." Veemon raised his blaster, looking down at it. "I hope that this is enough to save her, and the others."

Armadillomon puts a paw on Veemon's shoulder. "I know you care about her. We'll get her back." Armadillomon smiled as Veemon looked up at him and nodded, a smile on his face too. "Then you two are sure to get together." He added happily.

"... Get together?" Veemon said, confused.

"You don't remember? I thought that you were going out with her?" Armadillomon aked him, now confused himself.

"No... Damn that snake, it's still hard to remember much after that thing attacked me, but I am getting it back slowly." Veemon said, rubbing his temples. "What I do remember is that she was going out with Demirenamon for a little while, then she wasn't..."

"Ah, I see." Armadillomon siad, moving next to Veemon, nudging his side a little. "This might be a good chance for you." He said with a chuckle.

"Armadillomon!" Veemon shouted, his face a little red from blushing.

"Really, think about it. You rush in, save the girl and defeat the bad guys while protecting her. Excelent hero material." Armadillomon said, flashing a peace sign. They both laughed at the idea, but Veemon was beginning to like it.

Meanwhile, StarRenamon was filling Joe, Cody, and Izzy in on what happened at Izzy's home after Izzy left.

"Gatomon almost had me, but I managed to get away from her and hide, but I wasn't able to save... FlamePalmon..." StarRenamon turned his head, clearing his throat, despare returning from the memory.

"FlamePalmon?" Cody asked, confused.

Izzy explained it to him. "FlamePalmon is, from what I understand, his girlfriend. She's a fire-based Palmon."

"Oh."

Just then, Lei came running downstairs. "I hope you're ready, 'cause we don't have much time now." Everyone turned to look at him as he made his way to StarRenamon, his purple Digivice out at the ready.

"Why? What happened?" Davis asked. Lei didn't hear him. StarRenamon stood up and faced Lei.

"StarRenamon, you need to digivolve for this next one." Lei said as he swipped a silver card over the scanner. StarRenamon didn't know why yet as a purple glow on Lei's chest showed as his Crest was used for this special card. Joe, Veemon, Davis, Yolei, Cody, Izzy, and Armadillomon watched in confusion as this took place. StarRenamon's body glowed purple for a moment.

"StarRenamon Digivolve to..." When it faded, his Orange armor was a dark purple color, almost black, and covered him from neck to feet with metal plates and spikes, unlike the other. His tail also coated in the same metal as on him, but made to have it move freely. The top of his face was black, whilt the bottom of it was blue, with bright red eyes. His voice took on a darker, menacing tone as he said. "DarkNightmon." Everyone nearly jumped after the new digimon appeared. Veemon and Armadillomon jumped in front of the others, ready for battle, thinking it was an enemy digimon at first. DarkNightmon had that kind of effect to those that did not know him best, like Lei does.

"Don't be afraid," DarkNightmon said, turning his head, smiling. "I won't bite." Veemon and Armadillomon didn't let down their guard, but went to their respective partners. He chuckled as he turned back to Lei.

"Why do I need this form? You know I can barely control it, much less like it." DarkNightmon asked, his voice taking an evil tone.

"Why? Because the people who we were going to get will be here in a few minuets is why." Lei told him calmly as he was rubbing his injured leg lightly with his injured hand. His healing aura was around it and made the wound heal even faster than normal so that he could be ready for anything.

"What!?" DarkNightmon exclaimed, very surprised. Murmurs began among the other Digidestined, wondering who they were talking about at first.

"That's why I needed you to Digivolve." DarkNightmon understood and retracted his black-bladed weapon, the Darkness Sword.

"Wait." Izzy walked up to DarkNightmon. He and Lei looked at Izzy. "This is StarRenamon?"

"DarkNightmon to you!" DarkNightmon's eyes narrowed as he snapped at Izzy, who jumped back quickly.

"Hey! Control it." Lei snapped. "This is StarRenamon's Ultimate form, DarkNightmon. He's viral now and as you can see, can be a bit snappy at times."

Davis came up next to look at DarkNightmon, Yolei behind him. "Viral..." Izzy murmured to himself, as he tried to approach him again. "A Digimon that can go from Vaccine to Viral and back... indigio--" Suddenly there was an explosion outside, along with the sound of birds flapping. DarkNightmon placed the sword in front of him, edges out, and use his Teleport technique while everyone was distracted, a dark portal in his wake that almost resembled an oval of dark light. Everyone looked at the door.

"Whare'd he go?" Armadillomon asked Cody, who shrugged.

"Alright, DarkNightmon went to see what that was. He'll be back in a moment--" Lei was telling the others just when DarkNightmon reappeared via the same dark colored portal.

"The other Digidestined along with a few I don't know are making their way here." DarkNightmon hesitated for a moment when he saw a glow from the hip of the girl with Davis. Yolei detached her Digivice from her belt, it's glowing light illuminating her fearful features.

"That ain't what I think it is is it??" Lei asked her despretly.

"Oh crap." She gasped as a pink light shot from it and went through the window leading outside.

"Hawkmon Armor-digivolve to...!"

"Gatomon Armor-digivolve to...!"

Now that really caught everyone's attention.

"They can STILL Digivolve!?" Izzy exclaimed, stunned at this.

-I'm glad Veemon didn't...- Davis thought as he glanced down at his digimon partner.

"This is the main fight, as in now or nothing. There can not be ANY losses, except to the enemy. Don't trust anything unless they got a blaster or is covered in soda. Understand?" Lei instructed them. They nodded in understanding.

"Tempest Wind!!" Suddenly, the door was blasted open by an energy attack.

"No turning back now." Lei murmured to DarkNightmon.

"No problem---" DarkNightmon was stunned by who entered first, her dress swaying with each step. "I...It was true then..." He said, shocked beyond belief.

"Now don't think you forgot about little ole' me now." She said at the Digidestined, her laughter followed by the rest of the group. Firelillymon stood at the entranceway, with Halsemon and Nefirtimon behind her. It seems that this fight was going to start regardless...

End of Chapter 7


	8. CH8: Final Battle

Warning: This chapter has a little gore towards the end of it. Thought you should know is all ^^

Chapter 8: The Final Battle... Bane of the Darkness

"F... FireLillymon!?!?" DarkNightmon said, shocked more than Lei is.

"Of course it's me, but you're not who I wanted to see, though..." FireLillymon cocked her head slightly, looking at each of the Digidestined. " ... Ah. Maybe it was a good thing I came along. Lei is here." FireLillymon chuckled. "Now we can have some fun! What do you think guys?" She said, asking the two that were with her.

Nefirtimon was glaring at Davis. "Hey there, didn't forget about me now, did you Davis? I still have to return the favor for what you did to me a few days ago..." She said with a similar grin, licking her lips.

Holding his blaster, he called out to the sphinx digimon. "Don't bother." He stood in front of Yolei, who was also preparing her soda blaster.

Halsemon caught a glance at her. He began to snicker. "Now I can finish what I started back then." His bird eyes narrowed at her.

"I'd like to see you try!" Yolei snapped back at their partner Digimon.

"Gladly." FireLillymon said, forming fire within her pedaled hands. Before she could move forward, a black beam hit the trio.

"Darkness Barrage!!" DarkNightmon powered up his sword while they were distracted and he released the power at them. They went flying into the croud of people outside of the forest barrier.

"Let's go rescue our friends!" Davis called out as he led the group outside, to the opposing group. Davis, Yolei, Izzy, Joe, Cody, Armadillomon and Veemon ran out of the opening. When they got outside the house, no one was there. DarkNightmon and Lei came out last.

"My attack moved them out of the woods. Let's hurry." DarkNightmon said as he jumped in front of Davis and went back down the path, his gauntleted feet creating a metallic stomping sound as he ran. The others followed quickly. They came across some scorched earth where the entrance used to be. Beyond that, a circle of people and Digimon were around DarkNightmon.

"Ok, get into a line in the shadows and wait for my call to move forward. Let's try and take them out with one attempt." Lei said to the others as they hid along the edge of the scorched bush. Lei silently went to Izzy. "Let's hope this work."

"Don't worry, I'll improvise as needed." Izzy replied. Then Lei ran out into the croud, jumped over T.K. and Mimi, and landed behind DarkNightmon.

"Holding out well?" Lei asked his partner.

"Not really sure, like they're waiting for someone. No one's attacked yet." DarkNightmon said to him. Looking around, he sees Matt, WereGarurumon, Nefirtimon, FireLillymon, Tentomon, Kari, Halsemon, Patamon, and T.K. were here, poised and ready to attack. The menacing look in their eyes showed that they were out for blood tonight. The only ones to Lei that seemed to be missing was Jun, Tai, Agumon, Byiomon and Sora. He was trying not to stare at Mimi or Kari too much, seeing that their shirts were ripped so badly that it made their bare chests almost completely visible from the tears on them.

"About time you got here." FireLillymon said playfully to Lei. "The fun was about to start." Lei shook his head, turned to her and smiled.

"Indeed. Fire NOW!!" Nothing happened for a few moments.

"What the hell are you talking abo- ." FireLillymon taunted when something strange fell from the sky... Everyone but Lei, who was smiling, and DarkNightmon looked up to see that there was no clouds. Some of the dark substance got into the onlookers and they started to gag and cough as it had also gotten into their mouths, as if it were poison..

"What... :cough: ... Is this??" Matt tried to call out. With a twitch of Lei's blue jacket, two hoses came out about an inch.

"DarkNightmon, Down!" DarkNightmon kneeled as Lei puts both his hands in front of him, over DarkNightmon, aiming first at Kari hesitant at first and shouted "Water Cannon!" A device clicked in his pack which activated a machine, unleashing a torrent of soda pop. The soda hit her directly in the face before she knew what had happened, and she fell to the ground, twitching terribly.

From the burnt opening...

"Now, let's go! Keep at it Izzy and Joe." Davis shouted out. Five of the seven ran out to assist Lei, Davis leading. DarkNightmon rose up and saw Halsemon taking to the air to avoid the stream from above, choking the whole time. Lei moved over to Matt, Kari was still convulsing from the first twin shot.

"Water Cannon!" Another blast of pop hit him in the face before he realized what happened. As Matt was also convulsing and rejecting the slime, Lei was suddenly tackled down by WereGarurumon, pinning his arms down with his big hands.

"I think it's time to take care of you." He said, his eyes flashing a little as he lowered his head. Lei, disgusted at the idea that the wolf digimon was going to do to him, grabbed the two hoses with his hands and turned them inwards.

"Water Cannon!" It was hesitant at first, but a quick knee to the crotch released WereGarurumon's hold on him a little, allowing the soda to come out. He fired a stream on both sides of the wolf man's face, forcing him back and off of Lei. Leaning up quickly, he continued the assault as WereGarurumon screamed aloud. He quickly de-digivolved back to Gabumon, his top half drenched in the carbonated substance, slime almost poring out of his mouth.

"My thoughts exactly..." Lei said, rubbing his arms as he watched the parasite dissolve completely.

DarkNightmon was fighting FireLillymon and Nefirtimon, both females panting and weakened due to the Soda Rain.

"Don't think... you have an advantage.. boy." FireLillymon gasped, trying not to take in the soda. DarkNightmon smiled.

"Looks like I do from here. Heh." He brought his sword forward to FireLillymon, it's dark aura swirling faster and faster.

"Rosetta Stones!" DarkNightmon turned to see Nefitirimon unleash a big rectangle-shaped stone and firing it at him. With a swipe of the sword, he unleashed one of his time attacks.

"Reversal Slash!" The wave went straight through the sphinx digimon's attack, shattering the stone, but something else was also heading towards the sphinx Digimon. Nefirtimon was suddenly hit with a blast of compressed air and was knocked out of the dark digimon's attack path, which left a small line on the ground from the impact. "What the hell?!" DarkNightmon shouts as he look over to his right to see T.K. and Patamon, who seem to have been ready for this. It seemed that T.K.'s hat prevented the soda form reaching his mouth with his head tilted down. Patamon on the other hand had on Mimi's wide brimmed pink hat that T.K. had tied onto him for him to protect him when the soda rain started.

"I won't let you harm her." Patamon declared, the slight glow in his eyes showing that the snake was still in control.

"If you think that we're going to let you do to her, like you did to number 10, you're insane." T.K. said, almost tauntingly as his digivice in his hand glowed.

"Patamon Armor-Digivolve to... Pegasusmon!" Patamon called as he changed to his Armor Evolution form. He still had the hat on his head, which the brim was just wide enough to keep the falling liquid rom reaching his mouth. Nefirtimon slowly stood up, shaking her head. Looking at Pegasusmon, she knew what he had in mind. Pegasusmon took to the skies, along with Nefirtimon, then came to ground level, flying in rapid circles around Lei and DarkNightmon, one going one way the other the other direction.

"Golden Noose!" They shouted out as a golden rope appeared and quickly went inwards. Lei nor his partner had much time to respond and they were bound tightly to the spot. THey both struggled, but it seemed to be unbreakable. Due to DarkKnightmon's dark element, it only served to make the noose stronger as it sapped their energy. Nefirtimon went to DarkNightmon while Pegasusmon went to Lei.

"You want both of them? Or can I have one?" Pegasusmon asked Nefirtimon calmly, licking his lips as he looked over his struggling prey.

"No... you can have the boy. I want this fox all to myself." Nefirtimon said as she rubbed her tail against the dark fox's leg. DarkNightmon growled as he was unable to do anything at this point.

"I will never let that happen! I'll burn in hell before I ever let a boy kiss me!!" Lei said furiously as he struggled with the noose. Pegasusmon got closer and closer to him, almost at kissing range.

"Whirlwind Dance!" A shout came from somewhere and a powerful mini-tornado hits Pegasusmon, knocking him to the side and swings around swiftly to attack Nefirtimon while slicing at the noose. With the attack on the two digimon and on the Golden Noose, it dissipates as Pegasusmon de-digivolved back to Patamon.. Lei fell to the ground, slightly tired from the struggling. DarkNightmon watched with curiosity as Marin appeared from the small tornado.

"I knew that you'd be needing my help..." Marin said, like a child with a toy. "So I came back to help."

"Best timing ever Marin." Lei said as he dusted himself off the best he could with the soda that was on him.

DarkNightmon was already charging his attack. "Reversal SLASH!!!" This time his attack hit home, hitting Nefirtimon, causing her to glow and return to her Gatomon form. She fell to the ground unconscious. DarkNightmon quickly turned to FireLillymon, his red eyes glowing, and charged her yelling as he did so, the thrill of the battle already consuming him.

Davis was the next to join the battle and saw Gatomon lying on the ground. Immediately, he ran up to her and blasted her fully in the face. When he stopped, Gatomon turned her head convulsing and puked out the slime like Veemon did. Once it was away, she stopped moving. The slime itself turned blue. The snake inside leapt out of it, trying to escape quickly. Not wasting any time, he sent another blast of the carbonated soda at the slime and the snake, which dissipated at contact.

"YA-HOO!!" Davis yelled, raising his gun. "Got one!" Lei, Yolei, Armadillomon, and Veemon just finished off, Mimi, T.K. and Tentomon with Marin holding them with a Wind Cage technique, when Lei noticed two others behind Davis.

"Davis! Look out!" Lei tried to warn him, but it was too late. Davis turned and a powerful punch sent him reeling toward Lei. Jun began a run at Lei, her and Patamon wearing a mask this time to protect themselves from the rain. Halsemon saw who it was that was spraying them from above. Flying toward them in a rage, he didn't expect that they had any time to aim at him. Izzy noticed something as he motioned to Joe.

"Must be getting desperate. Change from Spray to Blaster." Izzy said to him. If it wasn't for the time needed to examine these weapons earlier, he would have never known about the mode changes that were equipped to it. Joe understood and switched the button on his Soda Blaster. A strait line of soda hit Halsemon directly and he went down in a flurry of feathers and soda and fell near where Yolei was. Joe noticed a flashing light on his blaster.

"I'm getting low on soda." He said as he released the trigger, ceasing the soda, although Izzy didn't stop. He chucked to himself at what he said.

"I'll keep going, go back and reload." Joe nodded and headed back. Izzy looked on to the battlefield. "Prodigious, this is going to be a long night..." Izzy said to himself as he kept up the aerial attack.

Lei was preoccupied at the moment to pay any attention as he was dodging Jun's punching and Patamon's lunges. Lei had an idea. -Let's try this interesting attack I saw Jacob use before.- "Double Impact Water...!" Aiming his hands at Patamon and Jun, he hit's both of them with a small energy attack, Patamon in the face, breaking his mask, while Jun on the face, destroying her mask. A few cuts were evident from the attack on their faces, but they quickly healed. "CANNON!!!" Lei finished his attack with a blast of pop to the face to the two, but it hits Jun in the chest as she tried to avoid it. Their masks destroyed, they start to weaken from Izzy's continuous assault from the sky, later joined by Joe, who takes his place as he goes back in to reload his own weapon. Patamon was having a seizure on the ground, the slime leaving his soda-sprayed body. Things seem to be going well for them so far...

* * *

In the Digital World, the man in the castle was getting irritated...

"No No No No No!! This cannot be happening!" He was watching through a pulsating crystal Orb, slamming his hand on the nearby wall. The battle not going the way he had wanted it to.

"Grrr... SARI!!!!!" He called out. A marooned haired girl with a white, tattered school uniform on and Kunai Knifes along her waist entered the room. Her gloves had Silver Claws attached to them, which glistened in the torchlight.

"Yes Master Coren?" Sari said to him, bowing down to him.

"I want you to go to the battlefield, and destroy all those who are there. Can you do that?" Coren said to Sari, pointing out the door.

"I understand." She said, smiling as she was hoping for a chance to join that particular fight. As she turned to leave, Coren spoke to her again.

"Meet up with DarkTailmon and VampVeemon. That Digivice of Darkness and Crest of Darkness you have should be useful with them. They should already be there now. " Sari bowed again and turned to leave, her Crest of Darkness pendant, which resembled a Dark Crystal, dangling out below her neck a little. Sari's Diamond-shaped Black Digivice has four buttons and a screen. It glows for a second and she disappeared.

"This is becoming more troublesome by the minuet..." Coren said aloud. Up above, a bat-demon digimon was stirring.

"You know, time often repeats itself." The bat digimon said to his partner. "Always be on your guard, especially with that Lei kid. I sense something familiar with that partner of his..."

"You do have a point there, Sylirmon." Coren said to him as he continued to watch events unfold through the Time orb.

* * *

"Down to two now." Lei said to himself as all that were fighting and reverted surrounded FireLillymon and Jun. Lei stood in front of them and raised his hands, DarkNightmon holding FireLillymon's hands behind her as Davis does the same to Jun.

"Mmm Darkey... I didn't know you were so kinky." FireLillymon said to him, leaning her head back. She had a seductive tone to her voice, one that DarkNightmon, as DemiRenamon, liked about her. He still knew that he was under a creature's control and did his best to ignore her tone of voice. "How about you and I have some fun and forget this little fight of ours?" She added with a lick to his face, but then she spat out what was on it. Everyone was still covered in soda pop..

"Alright bug. Stop trying to get through to me, it won't work." DarkNightmon said to her as a warning, tightening his grip on her. He still couldn't help it, but he blushed a little at FIreLillymon's tactics.

Kari, who had on T.K.'s jacket, stood with Gatomon. They both wanted to get back at those creatures that took over their bodies, so they decided to stay and assist in any way that they could. T.K. and Patamon, also weary, stood by Kari and Gatomon's side. Davis and Veemon were on the other side of Kari. Veemon looked occasionally at his feline friend, still concerned for her safety. Matt and Mimi went to Izzy's with Tentomon after Izzy filled them in on the situation, Gabumon following. Mimi was worried about Palmon more than finding a shirt at the moment. Matt gave her his so she would calm down a little as they took her over there.

The ones still helping were Veemon, Davis, Hawkmon, Yolei, Armadillomon, Cody, Izzy, Kari, Gatomon, Joe, T.K. and Patamon, around in a circle with Lei, DarkNightmon holding FireLillymon and Davis holding Jun.

"Ready... Aim... Water Cannon." Lei said casually as if this was too easy. At point-blank range, they both get soda in the face. After a few seconds of this, they spazzed wildly. Lei stopped and DarkNightmon let go of FireLillymon and stepped back as she let out the slime. Next to her, Jun was experiencing the same thing. After the slime was out of FireLillymon and went blue, Lei took aim and tried to drench it, but no more would come out.

"Perfect... Does anyone else have any left?" Lei looked around, seeing if anyone had any soda remaining. If anyone was looking toward the fire plant, they probably would've noticed a small, blue/green snake slither toward FireLillymon's flowered head. Veemon tossed Lei his blaster. Immediately after receiving it he squirted the slime near FireLillymon, which dissipated. She shrunk down to her Flamepalmon form after it disappeared. Taking aim on the last one, he gets rid of it and the chamber on the blaster empties. Everyone cheered after he had finished. DarkNightmon changed back to StarRenamon and gave Lei a high three.

"It's over!" Lei called out to the others, raising his blaster high in the air.

"Yeah!" They cheered together. They all raised their right hand in victory. StarRenamon went to FlamePalmon and picked her up, checking her condition.

"You're right about that..." A female voice called over the croud. Lei froze still as everyone got quiet, as if a great shadow was casted over everyone .

"That voice." His face grew some fearful features as he turned to see three people approach. One of them disappeared, but the soda on the ground splashed as the trail lead right for Kari and Gatomon. They did see her, but barely had time to move. Suddenly, they were shoved to the side hard. T. Patamon pushed them out of the line of fire. Their eyes met for a brief moment. T.K. seemed relieved that Kari was out of harms way, despite the act that he was in the path now. Kari crashed into Davis and Yolei. Gatomon landed on Veemon.

"Claw of Infinite Darkness!!" The same voice echoed. A shadow came around T.K. and Patamon, who were screaming in pain as many slashes and cuts were visible outside of the shadow and going inwards, attacking the two mercilessly.

"T.K.!!!! NOOO!!!" Kari shouted,trying to get up, but Davis held her back.

"Kari don't! You-" Davis tried to stop Kari but ended up getting smacked in the face. Kari scrambles to her feet before Yolei could catch her, but Cody was there in time to hold Kari back and away from the attack, Yolei and a staggering Davis helping him. Meanwhile, Veemon, Hawkmon and Armadillomon had to use all their strength to keep Gatomon from getting hurt by that attack.

"Let me go!! Patamon's in there!!! I got to save him!!!!" Gatomon shouted, almost clawing at the three to release her.

"Gatomon, don't do it! You'll be killed yourself!" Veemon shouted at her, trying to reason with her.

"I don't care!!! Lightning Paw!!!" Gatomon called out, striking at Veemon's side. Breaking away from the three, she caught sight of the attacker and leaped in. "Lightning Paw!!!!"

"Black Lightning Strike!" A black cat Digimon shouts as she counters Gatomon's attack. "I don't think so kitty." She said with a sneer. The two cat digimon stand off, ready to attack the other.

"What's happening to them??" Joe shouted out, hoping for an answer.

"All of you, back to the house! NOW!!" Lei shouted out to the group hesitated for a moment, then quickly went back down the burnt pathway, leading the others to it. Kari was still hesitant to go as she and Gatomon stayed with Lei and StarRenamon. Veemon had stayed behind to try and talk some sense into Gatomon as she was staring into her counterpart.

"Gatomon! There's nothing else we can do!" Veemon told Gatomon. He was keeping an eye on the black Gatomon in case she tried anything.

"Kari! We got to go NOW!" Yolei shouted to her, pulling her along. Gatomon looked back. She needed to help Patamon, but she also needed to protect Kari too. The shadow disappeared. What remained would shock them for the rest of their lives. Kari stopped struggling and fell back with Yolei in shock, her eyes slowly watering up.

"No... No no no no no no no NO!!!!!" Kari shouted out, putting her arms in front of her face, hands on her head, trying to block out the awful truth from her mind, but it had no effect. Gatomon was also stunned and shocked beyond belief. The only thing in T.K. and Patamon's place were chunks of human flesh and body parts surrounded by a ring of blood, a heart in the mess was still beating, blood still being pumped out of it, but it was starting to slow down. The attackers rejoined with the other one with something squirming and groaning. Tossing it in the light, it was Patamon, twitching from multiple gashes on his body and a Kunai Knife buried deep in his chest. Yolei couldn't believe that her good friend and companion... is now gone, just like that. Lei grimaced as he looked at T.K.'s remains and Patamon's twitching body. Star Renamon growled at the three, baring his teeth. He materialized his Star Sword, ready to fight them on command. Gatomon quickly went to Patamon's side, breathing hard, wishing that this was all just one big nightmare. Veemon looked on, as shocked as the others, that one of his friends was seriously attacked like that.

"Patamon... why did you do that for?" Gatomon asked him, running a paw over his head. Some of his blood got onto her fur, but she didn't care.

"I... I care for you.. alot... Even... even when I was under control... !!!" Patamon moaned out, then started coughing badly. "I still cared for you... re-regardless if you were... seeing... Veemon... or Demi...!!!" Patamon coughed up a little blood that time. Gatomon didn't know what to say. She did have some feelings for Patamon, but she didn't know that he cared for her this much.

"Patamon... please... stay here..." Gatomon said, hugging Patamon close to her. Patamon groaned in pain, panting hard. "I don't want you to go!!"

"I'm sorry... Gatomon... T.K... I couldn't protect you... after all..." Patamon rasped, his eyes slowly closing. "Gatomon... I... ah..."

"Yes Patamon... ?" Gatomon asked. A lone tear fell from her eye and landed on Patamon's cheek. He flinched a little from it as it landed.

"I... I love... you." Patamon said as his body slowly began to disintegrate. "I... will always... lo-" He didn't get the chance to finish as his body completely disappeared into the air, the bloodied Kunai Knife landing with a clatter as his data went up into the sky and disappeared. Gatomon just sat there and cried, her paws on her eyes, tears seeping through her paws and down her face as she weeped for the loss of her friend, her companion... her one true love that survived all odds.

End of Chapter 8


	9. CH9: Arrival of Darkness

Chapter 9: Arrival of Darkness, Prelude to Destruction

Meanwhile, on the other end of the street, where it is the darkest a child-like voice could be heard if you listened hard enough. Her voice was as clear and as beautiful as a professional singer, but it also contained a poisonous, addictive effect as well to those that heard it.

"Darkness against Light... Light against Dark...Powers win...Powers fade...along through Time..."

A little girl was singing to herself as she walked down the quiet, night time neighborhood, playing with her long, blond hair as she walked, looking down onto the ground.

"Such fates, always constants...Heh, very true." She murmured, singing to no one but herself, stepping in a straight line as she goes on, following the lines on the road. She smelled something further ahead, which she thought was strange to be smelling soda out here, when there wasn't anyone around. Since she was looking down, her head tilted down too, she didn't see the battle that was further up the road.

"Disappear... Reappear... Heroes shall die.... Evil shall to..."

Looking up, in the distance, she could see a group of people and Digimon, one of them closer to her. Shortly, two others rejoined the one and there was a young girl screaming.

"As Destruction takes hold, and destroys all... through the path of Time!"

She twirled around at the last three words, her deep red coat opened like an umbrella, showing her gray jeans, black with white laced sport shoes and white shirt with a black skull on it. A gray and green Triangle Pendant with four buttons and a screen that is tied to her neck by a strong string also came out with the spin. She giggled as if what she said was the most amusing thing that she ever said. Facing the other direction, she starts to walk away and sings once again to herself.

"As Time flows... and days grow old... Destruction goes... and is alone once more..."

The girl stopped and frowned at the last line, feeling as it says, but smiles once more and starts back again. She hums her song again as she walks back down the road, heading the opposite direction.

* * *

Lei watched as Patamon's form finally dissipated, leaving the knife onto the ground.

"How can you do something like this!?" Lei shouted at the leader of the three. He could tell the leader because she was the tallest. Stepping into the light, Lei and StarRenamon got a perfect look of her. She wore what looked like a white and blue school uniform with the sleeves ripped off. Along her waist were the same knives that were used on Patamon and T.K. He knew because of the bloodstains that were on them. Looking at her face, she wore a black bandana, covering her mouth as her black hair hung in a braid behind her, though some hung over her eyes, hiding her face even more. One of her two gloved hands pointed to the blood ring on the ground with the remains of T.K., flesh, gore, parts, everything.

"Vampveemon, have at it." She looked directly at Lei. "I'm sure you're probably hungry." A digimon started toward it. It crossed the light and Starrenamon thought at first it was Veemon, but this one was black and had a red V on it's forehead. Along his back were a pair of wings. He walked over to the pile and started slurping and eating the entrails.

"Ew..." Lei said to himself. Regaining his posture, he turned back to the leader.

* * *

Kari could no longer take any more of this and fainted on the ground. Yolei was also sickened from the sight, but she couldn't leave Kari there. "Cody! Give me a hand here!" She shouts at him as they both lift up Kari and carry her back to the house, Davis following behind carrying Jun with him.

"Gatomon, it's far to dangerou-" Veemon started to say before he was shoved away forceably.

"Leave me alone Veemon!!!" Gatomon shouted as she ran off down the street quickly. As she was using her cat abilities this time, the three didn't stand a chance to catch up with her.

"Gatomon!!" Veemon shouted, but a feathery hand on his shoulder stopped him.

"We shall catch up to her later. She needs time to accept this." Hawkmon said to him, still panting a little as he isn't back to full strength himself yet.

"I suppose you're right but-" Veemon started to say before he was interrupted by Armadillomon.

"No buts we need to get to safely Veemon. We can search for Gatomon once it's safe to." He said as he rammed Veemon so that he would be on top of his shell and the two ran to Lei's house.

"Such violence tonight..." Hawkmon said, shaking his head as he hastily followed.

* * *

"Why are you even here? Answer me!!" She lowered her concealed face chuckling.

"Why Lei... I never knew you to be so, demanding before." Lei was surprised by the fact that she knew his name.

"Who are you, Ninja?" Lei asked. Slowly, she removed her bandana, her young face having a scar over her left eye.

Lei took a step back. "Sa.. Sari!?"

"You wouldn't fight me now would you?" She asked in a sweet voice, but to Starrenamon there was a hint of something he couldn't place in it. Like a cat awaiting it's prize. It wasn't the only thing he had noticed, and he hoped his partner knew too.

"S... How...?!" She slowly walked to the startled Digidestined of Time.

"You thought of me dead, didn't you?" She continued to walk toward him.

"Starport." Starrenamon whispered and he disappeared with Flamepalmon. Sari saw this and chuckled.

"Heh. Even your partner is afraid." She brought up her Claw Glove, the three claws extended from the knuckles, glimmering from the lamplight. Lei took out his Twinscythe sword in defense, stepping back from her and going in his attack stance, one hand behind him with his sword in front.

"Mmm. Hadn't had a good meal in a long time." Vampveemon said to himself, taking a bite of T.K.'s still beating heart, not becoming still until afterward. The third one of their little party is still just beyond the light of the lamplight, appearing to just be a side stander unlike before.

"I... I don't want to attack you... Sari..." Lei said. He remembered what had happened the last time they had fought and he didn't even know it was her at the time. The smile on the other's face was pure evil.

"So give up!" She lunged at him, claws reared back, ready to slash. Lei draws his sword in front of him in time before she brought her claws completely down. They clashed, sparks flying everywhere, both pushing against each other. Lei strained with the effort, surprised at her strength.

"Why are you doing this!?" He said to her in confusion. They both jumped back and circled each other.

"You betrayed me... Leaving me to suffer on that day." Sari jumping out again with her claws, Lei counter attacked with a downward slash.

"I didn't have a choice!" He shouted at her following his counter with an upward slash. "Fang Blade!!" He shouts as a shockwave shot out of the sword. She leaped away at the last second, grabbing her kodachi, and started to spin around.

"Like I don't now? Spinner Strike!!" Her kodachi hit Lei in the arm and chest, shredding his jacket. He grimaced in pain at the attack, bringing him down to his knees. Lei looked up at her spinning form and thought to himself.

-Her technique! That was my Spinner Strike I was working on...- Sari stopped her spinning and looked directly at him.

"I...didn't want to leave your side... not even for a moment." Lei said to her as he held his hand over his wound. "Cure Aura." He whispered, feeling the sting from the attack cooling down a little as a light purple aura appeared on his hand to heal his wound. He stopped when he saw some movement behind her. Lei took a glance at the new arrival, who was walking toward Sari. She looked like a Gatomon type, her tailring and fur designs on her giving that away, except that Gatomon is white and this one is black, a little taller, and her face full of malice. Sari grips the pommel of her kodachi.

"Quit your lies." A black aura begins to grow around the blade. She brings it up to her face and crouches down, her other hand behind her. Lei staggered to get up, still weakened from the last attack, but is now worried as he didn't recover enough to endure another strike. Sari charges at him as he is getting up.

"Shadow Strike!" She rears her arm back for the killing blow. Sari charged Lei again brought it down hard, releasing the stored energy when she was four feet away. Lei braced himself for the impact, but it never came, only a sound of metal being hit and a strained scream. Lei looked in front of him and saw StarRenamon in front of him, taking full force of the attack. He fell and changed to his rookie stage, Demirenamon, crashing into Lei. Sari leaped back to where she was.

"Shall I put an end to his misery Master?" The black furred feline asks Sari, a grin on her blackish face.

She looked down at Lei and Demirenamon's fallen form as the words Darktailmon said repeated in her head...

*********************Flashback - Date and Time Unknown*******************

_ A young boy was valiantly fighting off four fiends all wearing cloaks, all with their own Bastard Swords, against his own Long Sword. They were quick to the draw with their sword styles, faster than the boy trying to protect his friend. "Spinner-- gah!!" One of the robed figures slashed him before he could execute his best move, forcing him back and away. He fell to his knees, his silver hair falling over his bloodstained face._

"Sari...!!" He tries to call out to her, but only forces out a groan and falls to the dust ridden earth of the forest path. She tries to call out to him, hoping that he could still help her, but it was muffled, as she was instantly captured when the boy fell by the other three one of them holding a gauntleted hand over her mouth. A fifth came out from the trees and landed near the first one, who was over the fallen protector.

"Shall I end his misery, Master?" He asks the new arrival.

********************************End*********************************

-That one day... Was he really was trying to protect me? He shall live this day. I must think on this more.- Sari thought to herself.

"Master Sari?" DarkTailmon asked her, seeing her partner in a daze.

"No..."

Vampveemon looked up with a rib in his mouth, surprised. "What?"

Sari looked to her two allies. "I said no." Sari puts her Kodachi back in it's sheath across her back hip. She looks to Lei, then turns to leave.

"Why... Why leave me here?" Lei called out to Sari. He tried to push himself up but DemiRenamon's weight nearly pinned him down from how weak he was. "Coward... finish your.." Lei fell to the ground DemiRenamon still on top of him, both unconscious and out of energy.

"Coward am I?" With a quick gesture, she is directly over the two's sleeping body. She bent down over them, nearer to Lei.

"I'm no coward betrayer, just thought I'd give myself a better challenge is all. I'll give you three days to recover, before I kill you." She gets up and takes out her Black Diamond Digivice. She looks down at Lei one last time.

"Next time, this assassin won't be so kind. Digital Gate Open!" A black portal appeared behind the three in the shape of a circle and they walked through it, leaving Lei and Demirenamon alone in the soda barren street.

* * *

From nearby, another young boy, spiked red hair of perhaps 15 years of age, who caught the tail end of the fight, saw the three leave. He was wearing a dark red leather jacket with a red shirt, blue jeans that looked slightly burned and has a decent sized hip pouch on his side, red and white shoes with matching socks on his feet. Looking around cautiously, he slowly walks toward something lying on the ground. Seeing what it is he runs to it, noticing this time a three-foot in height blue digimon near him.

"Wonderful, just wonderful." He says to himself as he took out his Digivice which resembled a fireball. A screen lit up in the center signaling that it is in talk mode, two buttons on the top and sides of the screen with the speaker end on the bottom.

"Torcher to Metal Smith, Torcher to Metal Smith." A little static was his only response for a moment before a voice came through.

"Torcher? Metal Smith here. What did you find?" The boy looks down at the two tattered and sleeping forms.

"Didn't find Omega... but I found Alpha, but Flame isn't with him, only his partner, Fox, is. They're pretty damaged." He took a scanner out of his green jacket he was wearing and held it over them. "Seems.... That there is some dark energy residue on them." He said into the transmitter. "Darkness must have got here first. Let me know when you get the transport machine up and running. In the meantime, we'll be at Alpha's house."

"O. K. Torcher, Metal Smith out." The boy puts the Digivice back in his pouch. Running a hand through his short stood-up red hair, he sighs.

"I better get going." Picking up the two, both on either side of him, he carries them past the burnt opening where the rest of the Digidestined team was waiting. Getting past the stairs he tries to open the door, but it was locked.

"Damn... Unlock." The young man said. A white aura appeared on the door knob at first before the door clicked. Once he was inside, the Digidestined that were in the living room area, Cody, Yolei and Izzy saw the red haired kid bring in DemiRenamon and Lei with him.

"A little help here?" He asked the three. Yolei and Izzy scooped up DemiRenamon as Izzy got on the other side of Lei. "Let's take him to his room-"

"Who are you...?" Cody asked suspiciously. Yolei was about to ask, but had also thought it to be best to get these two to a bed as soon as possible.

"I'm also a friend of Lei and DemiRenamon, although I bet he never mentioned me in the past." He said to the three. "Ryo's my name. Now that's over with let's get him to bed. I need to find my partner Flames soon." Leading the way they went up the stairs, they passed one room on the right where the sounds of crying could be heard from in there. Going to the next room, which was Lei's bedroom, they go to set them both on the bed, lei on the left, DemiRenamon on the right. A sound catches Ryo's ears on his side. On a makeshift pallet of covers on the floor layed a red plant-like digimon, resting. Ryo smiled glad his partner was safe. Looking towards the three that helped him, he motioned towards the door.

"I appreciate the assistance. I'll stand watch over them. There is something I need to talk to them about once they awaken." Ryo said to them with a forced smile. Yolei looked at Ryo, skeptical to why he would request such a thing.

"How do we know you're not with those three that attacked them?" Yolei asked him, calmly at first. Ryo was surprised by the remark.

"Three people did this to Lei?! ... Maybe I need to hear what exactly happened first." Ryo said, chuckling a little.

"You sure are happy although you seem to not be affected by your friend's condition..." Cody pointed out, crossing his arms.

"You know, most sad events can go by faster with being happy, now what did happen to him?" Ryo asked again, becoming serious this time.

"Ok, ok... well first my partner Hawkmon..." Yolei began telling him of everything of what has happened this week.

* * *

"I thought I told you to destroy everyone!" Coren said raged at the three, their mission incomplete. He turned sharply, his long trenchcoat rustling as he did.

"I apologies Master, I don't know what happened to make me sidestep from my goal." Sari told him, her, Darktailmon, and Vampveemon kneeling in front of Coren, heads down.

"After seeing this one boy, I felt something for him." Standing a few feet away from them, he listens to her report. Sari shook her head of a memory as she continues to explain what happened on the battlefield.

"Although, I believe they wont be interfering any longer, since I used my best technique on the one called T.K. " She didn't see this, but a grin came across Coren's face.

"T.K. you say?" Coren asked.

"Yes. It was him, and his partner." Sari told him. Coren chuckled at the findings.

"Well, one less prophecy to worry about." Coren said to himself. He turned to Sari. "Anything else?"

"Yes Master, I have also learned that the ones called Tai, Sora, Agumon and Byiomon weren't at the main fight." Coren sharply turned his head toward her.

"They weren't?" Coren asked, confused as to why they weren't there.

"That is all I have to report." Sari finishes. Facing forward again, Coren starts to walk to his chamber.

"Wait here..." Upon entering, he noticed that his Orb was glowing with a faint aura. He walks to it. Looking inside, he sees a digimon's ultimate form, completely restored.

"Finally! My trump card is finished! Ha Ha!!" He outstretches his arms and hands, "Awaken, awaken and be free!" The Orb glowed a bright red, filling the room with it's eerie light. A wind began to stir, and the Orb began to take in the air around, like a small black hole. Coren started to feel a searing pain go through him.

"GRRRRAAA!!! What's... happening..." Being pulled forward from the wind, Coren was sucked inside and all calmed down to silence. A hairline crack suddenly appeared on it as more cracks started to appear. It shortly exploded, sending shards of glass everywhere. A person was there, kneeling on the ground. A black cape concealed him. It rose up, panting and turned around. This person was wearing a blue shirt with a golden bat on the collar of it and matching blue pants with black boots. A couple of blonde hair strands fell over his blue eyes, which were covered by a red mask. His smile revealed a pair of fangs as he looked apon the broken shards of the late Time Orb. He chuckled to himself as he stood up.

"I have finally retained my body." He said in a calm voice, like telling someone that they were about to die. He raised his hand, and grasped the air, testing his arm.

"In three days, those damned Digidestined will be a mere memory, by my hand..." He said to himself as he left the room. Sari and her two partners jumped back at who came out. VampVeemon recognized him almost immediately.

"My... Myotismon...!" VampVeemon shouted, backing up.

"What?!" Sari shouted in alarm. She had also heard of how a vampiric type digimon had acted and had tried to take over the Digital World not once but twice. DarkTailmon started to run for it, as did VampVeemon then Sari following, but only VampVeemon seemed to make it to the door. Running down the stairs he soon realizes that he's alone.

"No... Sari, DarkTailmon!!" He turned around to go help them, but a bat type digimon stood in front of him.

"I would not recommend going back." The digimon said through narrowed eyes, his wings about him like a cloak, the digimon's metal left foot glinting in the torchlight of the torches lining the walls of the stairway.

"Sylirmon? Why not!?" VampVeemon asked him, almost ready to fight him to get him to move out of the way. Sylirmon just stood there, barring the way of the determined Digimon of Shadows.

End of Chapter 9


End file.
